The West Indies were still regarded as the best team in the
world at that time. Touring West Indies meant, you would definitely lose and
exhibiting some fight was regarded highly during those days. When Imran Khan's
young team challenged the might of the great Caribbean side, the world was
surprised as neither England nor Australia could stand a chance against them.
Since 1986, the clash between Pakistan and West Indies were
regarded as the unofficial clash of the Titans.
But Australia, under the supervision of Allan Border and Bob
Simpson started to gel as a team. Their bowling attack was regarded as a weak
link after the departure of Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson. Young guns like
Craig McDermott, Bruce Reid, Jeff Lawson and Merv Hughes were expected to carry
on, but injuries dented their progress more often.
Especially, McDermott was regarded very highly because of
his pace and aggression, but he was let down a lot by injuries and
inconsistencies.
After a successful World Cup 1987, his form dipped - 10
wickets from 22 Test matches at an average of 37.40 did not do justice to his
talent and then injuries showed up. He was included in the fourth and fifth
Ashes Test of 1990-91 where he shone with the bat and ball.
The next destination was West Indies.
Australia went there with motto of playing with the same
aggression as the Caribbean and McDermott displayed that with his bowling on
the first day of first Test at Sabina Park.
Viv Richards won the toss and elected to bat.
Immediately, West Indies discovered themselves reeling at
75for 6. McDermott and Hughes set jitters in the batting line-up. A vicious
delivery from McDermott floored Gus Logie who was retired hurt, but came out to
bat and later on came out to bat helped his team to get out of the rut.
McDermott exhibited aggression by pitching it short at pace
and hardly erred with his line-and-length - the ball pitched on the perfect
channel and moved back-in and away. The shorter ones were a signal that Australia
would not step back from testing the West Indies with their own medicine.
The priced scalp of the day was that of Richards, who was caught by Hughes off the
bowling of McDermott. As Richards walked off after scoring 1 runs, McDermott
and his team displayed a dam-care attitude as if it was an easy wicket to
fetch.
McDermott bagged a 5-er with Hughes 4.
Richards and West Indies responded in a typical fashion in
the second outing, but that aggression by McDermott on Day 1 was a message - if
not today, but tomorrow, Australia would overtake the throne.
Faisal Caesar
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