Peak To Trough

After a morale-boosting triumph at the 2004 version of the ICC Champions Trophy, West Indies is back to its usual losing ways. Following the Test series defeat at home, a five - nil whitewash in the ODIs at the hands of the Proteas, is humilating. In the batting department, only Shivnaraine Chanderpaul was consistently impressive. Really, the latter, who is known for his amazing consistency in steadying the Windies ship, should return to the top of the order in the one-dayers, especially when he has got a hundred and fifty opening the innings. A Gayle-Chanderpaul opening duo has got all potentials of doing what Sanath Jayasuriya and Marvan Atapattu have been doing with tremendous success opening the innings for the Sri Lankans.

And as far as bowling is concerned, it sometimes seems that apart from Bradshaw, Chris Gayle is the only strike bowler. Really, the likes of Tino Best, Fidel Edwards should be asked to cut down on their flamboyance and concentrate on the basics,- line and length. Dwayne Smith too seems to be wasting his talent in over-indulgence in youthful exuberance, both while batting and while bowling. However, the other Dwayne, Bravo seems to be a thinking cricketer and appears to be all set to solve West Indies' long-standing problems with a genuine all-rounder, in both forms of the game, after unsuccessful experiments with Hendy Bryan, Steve Barnard, Omari Banks, and a host of others.