da fazobetai： Under normal circumstances, it would have been marked down as ameaningless victory at the end of a series already decided
Haydn Gill17-May-2001Under normal circumstances, it would have been marked down as ameaningless victory at the end of a series already decided.But against the background of five successive losses, the type ofuncontrollable West Indian celebrations that unfolded at the ArnosVale Playing Field here yesterday evening typified those of a nationcelebrating the capture of a World Cup final.As it became obvious the West Indies would finally end theirdepressing sequence of defeats, Vincentians could not contain theiroverflowing emotions. They jumped, waved, danced, gyrated and screamedthemselves hoarse. And when the impressive Marlon Samuels hit thewinning runs, there was the inevitable invasion of hundreds ofoverzealous fans.They couldn’t care less that South Africa had won the Cable & WirelessOne-Day International series by the emphatic margin of 5-2; they weresimply ecstatic that West Indies had finally won a match for the firsttime since the series opener on April 28.We are under no illusions. At the end of the day, 5-2 is still thescoreline, West Indies captain Carl Hooper said after his teamsurpassed a modest target of 163 for the loss of four wickets with 5.2overs in hand.It’s good to win and I hope that we can play like we played today(yesterday) on a more consistent basis.It’s just a shame that we couldn’t put in this performance in four orfive games.Samuels, given the responsibility of the No 4 position, fashioned anunbeaten 54 that included a couple of authentic off-side strokes andfeatured in a decisive unbeaten fifth-wicket partnership of 62 withShivnarine Chanderpaul.By then, support had swelled appreciably from the modest crowd thatwas in the stands when the first ball was bowled.West Indies enjoyed their best opening stand since the second matchand were making encouraging progress before Daren Ganga was run outbecause of Chris Gayle’s reluctance to come through for what appearedto be a comfortable single.By then, Gayle was in sparkling form with a series of extra-coverdrives, the last of which was followed by his dismissal from the nextball. At 92 for two, the West Indies were in the ascendancy, but thematch was back on even keel in the next few overs.Any side which gains the important wickets of Brian Lara and CarlHooper in quick succession will always feel they have a chance ofrunning through the West Indies’ batting, and South Africa would havethought no differently.Justin Kemp claimed both batsmen, but most of the credit for thedouble-strike must go to Herschelle Gibbs. By his impeccablestandards, there was nothing spectacular about his low catch at coverthat dismissed Lara, but hardly anyone else in world cricket couldhave leapt in the manner he did to pull down Hooper’s lofted coverdrive with his right hand.In the end, South Africa needed more.It is a disappointing end to the series, said captain Shaun Pollock.We would have liked to gone out on a winning note. It was probably toomuch at the end to ask of the guys. Having lost that many wickets inthe early part was always going to make it difficult to set acompetitive score.For the second successive match, the West Indies bowlers did anadmirable job after South Africa chose to bat on a pitch on whichstrokeplay was never easy.Hometown boy Cameron Cuffy was South Africa’s chief tormentor, but thespin of Neil McGarrell, Hooper and Samuels also proved effective andeconomical.South Africa were pegged back by the loss of four wickets inside thefirst 15 overs and not even Jacques Kallis’ hard-fought 69 and hisuseful partnerships with Jonty Rhodes and Mark Boucher were enough toraise a challening total.The ground was not packed at the start of the day, but you would havefelt it was because of the huge roars that greeted each of Cuffy’sthree wickets.Cuffy has been the one consistent West Indies fast bowler throughoutthe series and, fired up by the emotions of his first internationalmatch on home soil, he again delivered ten successive outstandingovers in which he dismissed Gibbs, Justin Ontong and Neil McKenzie.The quality of the fielding was also impressive.Corey Collymore accepted a high, swirling catch at long-leg thataccounted for Gibbs.But it was Daren Ganga’s stupendous right-handed effort at backwardsquare-leg from one that travelled rapidly off Gary Kirsten’s batthat was the catch that will long be remembered.