Starting all over again

At least there won't be the considerable weight of great expectations this time around.

It is a measure of the stature of Brian Lara as a batsman that his mere presence lifted the hopes of supporters beyond what could be considered reasonable expectations. Even in the midst of the worst period in the history of West Indies cricket, even as defeat followed defeat and the number of spineless capitulations increased, fans were still prepared to believe, foes remained wary and critics were sometimes reluctant to completely write-off the Caribbean side, so long as the left-hander from Cantaro was still in the middle or still to come.

He will be there, of course, when the Test series gets underway tomorrow, weather permitting, at Lord's, although not in the capacity that he would have been expecting as recently as a month ago. Following the surprise announcement on April 19 that he was retiring from all international cricket, Lara's presence will be for the opening of an exhibition on his life and times in the sport that has dominated most of his life.

His shadow will extend no doubt onto the field of play, and there will be innumerable references during the radio and television coverage to the whys and wherefores of his absence from the West Indies side. Yet as harsh as it may sound, especially to those diehard fans struggling to come to terms with his unexpected departure, Ramnaresh Sarwan and his team must forget about what could have been with Lara in the line-up and concentrate on what was going to be a formidable task on the field anyway.

They were already underdogs by virtue of an abysmal Test record over the past ten years, and the odds against them would have lengthened with the exit of the star batsman and the fact that the sum total of their match practice heading into the opening clash of the four-Test series, courtesy of the rain at Taunton, is less than 50 overs.

For all of the potential of Sarwan and Chris Gayle, the doughty reliability of Shivnarine Chanderpaul, and conditions that could reward disciplined bowling, the tourists are expected to struggle and are expected to be beaten, not just in the opening Test, but also in the remaining three matches, unless inclement weather plays a significant role.

From captain to coach to manager to senior players, all are trying to sound as optimistic as possible, because they really have no choice. Even if it doesn't materialise, they must believe that the West Indies have what it takes to be competitive throughout the series and offer some glimmer of hope that, even if the series is lost, there are encouraging signs of the building of a real team, a cohesive unit battling with a real sense of pride, first in themselves and also in the people they are representing.

All of the noises about indiscipline not being tolerated and a curfew being imposed have made for banner headlines. But anyone can levy a fine or a suspension. The real challenge is to get this sometimes dysfunctional bunch to buy into the notion that the entire package is designed to accelerate the development of a real team spirit, a willingness to fight for each other, to shoulder responsibility and not pass it on to the next man in line by virtue of an irresponsible shot or a poor bowling spell.

Most of those who now wear the burgundy cap may not be that big on history, but they only have to look back three years to the last Lord's Test involving the West Indies to see what guts and character can do and, conversely, how damaging selfishness and thoughtlessness can be. Despite being thoroughly outplayed in that series-opening encounter, the West Indies still held out hope of salvaging a draw, with Chanderpaul, who compiled an unbeaten 128 in the first innings, soldiering on in his typically stodgy, resolute manner on the last day. An early finish had seemed likely when Lara was bowled by left-arm spinner Ashley Giles for 44, yet the Guyanese left-hander, who was left unbeaten and unbowed on 97, never lost focus, reminding a succession of partners that the match could still be saved with some determined batting.

It was probably asking too much of a suspect tail to wag for any length of time, yet the manner in which Tino Best surrendered his wicket, stumped aiming a wild swing at Giles, almost triggered cardiac arrest among former West Indian players and broadcasters watching from the media centre. As English journalist Steven Lynch described it in Wisden's report of the match, Best's irresponsibility "stood all summer as a symbol of West Indian naivete and folly".

You would have expected that sort of description for the fledgling Caribbean sides before World War II that were struggling to cope with both the demands of Test cricket and the peculiarity of English conditions, not a team in its 76th year as a Test-playing nation.

Way back then, the forerunners to the current team lost six of nine Tests in three series in England, five of those defeats being by an innings. This latest rubber gets underway with the West Indies having lost seven of nine Tests spread over two series up in the cold. So it seems we are back to where we started so long ago, which, I suppose, is a good position from which to start over.