Limited-overs game brings back energy into West Indies

The change to the shorter game has sparked such a sudden transformation on the field as to make the West Indies unrecognisable as the indisciplined team beaten 3-0 in the preceding Test series.

It is an extreme makeover in the two Twenty20 internationals at The Oval and the first ODI at Lord's that all but eradicated missed catches, fumbled errors, wayward throwing, excessive no-balls and general carelessness but it has been counter-balanced by confused selection and the customary inability to exploit strong positions.

The energy and enthusiasm were in conspicuous contrast to the lacklustre embarrassment of the four Tests. Animated aggression replaced passive resignation. Instead of mediocrity there was excellence.

There was a dynamism to Chris Gayle that contradicted his image as the game's Mr Cool, a nomination made in the official series magazine by 13 members of the team, including himself, as well three Englishmen and so precisely verified in the Tests.

Perhaps it had something to do with his contentious elevation to the captaincy. Whatever, this is Chris Gayle, Mr Hot, not Chris Gayle Mr Cool.

Marlon Samuels even moved more like an athlete than a fashion model, soiling his trousers with diving saves and leaping like a flying fish to snare a brilliant catch at point.

In the 90 overs of the first three matches, there were two no-balls - one by Dwayne Smith and the other a bouncer from Fidel Edwards judged on height. In the four Tests, there were 74. The long hops and half-volleys that proliferated from the main bowlers in the Tests were all but gone.

If it took Daren Powell one apathetic match to catch the mood, he opened with a spell in the second as fast and as threatening as any for the season.

That is until Edwards, in his first appearance, turned up the heat in Sunday's ODI at Lord's with his 5 for 45. According to Derek Pringle, the former England Test allrounder, writing in The Daily Telegraph, his second spell, in which he blasted out four wickets, "comprised a blistering mix of bouncers and reverse swing with pace and aggression that were reminiscent of the late Malcolm Marshall in his pomp".

This was high praise but it was not misplaced. It was, indeed, awesome - and the only no-ball was from one of those bouncers.

Factor in Ravi Rampaul's impressive return to international cricket after the injuries that have kept him out for almost three years and it is clear the three matches have yielded a lot of "positives", to use the favourite word of contemporary captains and coaches.

What was not so positive were the decisions of, presumably, captain Gayle and coach David Moore over the batting order in the second Twenty20 and the Lord's ODI.

The absence, through injury, of Devon Smith and Shivnarine Chanderpaul were decisive setbacks in the former.

Lendl Simmons and Austin Richards, two fledglings, one with a handful of ODIs, the other on international debut, were the only options to take their place in the XI - but surely not so literally that Simmons had to open and Richards to follow at No.3.

They were both clearly perplexed by the peculiar requirements of this novel form of the game and served only to stall the start. Surely they should have been separated with Dwayne Bravo and Marlon Samuels at Nos.3 and 4.

Despite being West Indies' best batsman and the one in best form, Shivnarine Chanderpaul was inexplicably made to bat at No.5 in the first ODI © Getty Images

Yet when Chanderpaul, the best batsman and the one in the best form (not always necessarily the same), returned to the XI on Sunday, he was placed at No.5 with Runako Morton at No.3.

The need for Chanderpaul's approach and experience should have been clear from England's approach throughout their 50 overs.

The ball moved off a Lord's pitch that had been under covers throughout the previous day and batting required just the type of graft of which Chanderpaul is so adept, and Morton and Samuels, who went above him, are not.

A couple of West Indians on the opposite side of the ground to the West Indies' team room in the pavilion immediately and accurately nominated a par score. Sir Viv Richards put it at 230, Michael Holding at 240. It seemed Gayle and Moore saw it much higher.

By the time Chanderpaul got in, the innings was already in shambles with Gayle, Morton, and Samuels gone for 12 and Devon Smith thoughtlessly ran himself out one run later.

The match was already over and there was nothing that Chanderpaul could do about it, inspite of another innings that once again confirmed the qualities that were so evident in the Tests.

It also established that, in this team, he must bat higher - as he should have in the Tests as well.