Amid the celebration, the task now is not to lose sight of the challenges still ahead

Fazeer Mohammed11-Jan-2006

Daren Ganga knows that his future depends on being positive and dominating © Getty Images
Amid the celebration, the task now is not to lose sight of the challenges still ahead. Even the most optimistic of Trinidad and Tobago supporters would not have expected Jamaica to fold so meekly as they did on the last day of the four-day fixture on Monday.Coming in the wake of first innings points in a drawn encounter with the Leewards last month, and with Brian Lara to return for the next game against Guyana in nine days’ time, this comprehensive trouncing of the defending regional champions is the clearest sign yet of the potential of Daren Ganga’s squad to end a 21-year drought.And that is part of the danger, to start relaxing-even mentally-in the belief that with two more home matches and a last round-robin fixture in Barbados before the semi-finals and final, that the 2006 campaign is now tailor-made for the national team to claim the first regional first-class title since the side led by Rangy Nanan crushed Barbados by an innings in the final match of the competition in 1985 at the Queen’s Park Oval to lift the then Shell Shield for only the fourth time in the country’s history.Yet the portents are encouraging, not least because the key performers are rising to the occasion, while the skipper and the rest of team management seem to have created a really harmonious atmosphere that everyone wants to be a part of. That can all change very quickly, of course, and the real test of character will come in the moments of adversity, the occasions when discipline and defiance are required to pull the team out of a desperate position.Even if he is cautious and calculated by nature, Ganga, who is a few days short of his 27th birthday, has come to realise that any future he may hope to enjoy as a successful captain and established West Indies batsman will depend on being positive and dominating. It is the hallmark of a class player that he not only succeeds at the lower level, but does so in such a commanding manner as to leave no doubt that he is a cut above his contemporaries.Denesh Ramdin, even at the age of 20, continues to display the authoritativeness that borders on arrogance on the strength of his two tours with the West Indies to Sri Lanka and Australia. With the bat, wicketkeeping gloves and general manner, he exudes confidence in the critical role of wicketkeeper, an attitude that Bennett King, the West Indies coach, has already identified and bestowed on the young man the responsibility of constantly urging on the regional side and keeping them on their toes. In case anyone is interpreting that as an endorsement of him as the next regional captain, don’t even go there, because it is far too early for a player still with much to learn in terms of the physical rigours and psychological pressures at the highest level.Dave Mohammed has done it again, encouraged to attack the batsmen and given the support by a captain who knows how to maximise a bowler of his type. However, scything through the reckless Jamaicans on Monday and taking on such accomplished players like Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Siewnarine Chattergoon at Guaracara Park from January 20 will be a very different proposition. Yet, he is not the type of personality to be daunted by any challenge, nor is Richard Kelly, a young man following in the footsteps of Dwayne Bravo as a quality all-rounder. After so many years of muddling through with an assortment of part-time bowlers and so-so lower-order batsman, the presence of two such players in the national team at the same time is a real blessing.Ganga admitted last week that omitting the experienced Mervyn Dillon was a tough call, but, at least on this occasion, it was justified with Kelly making the early breakthroughs in the first innings and Rayad Emrit setting the stage for the final day rout with a three-wicket burst. For all the commitment, camaraderie and eventual success at the Sir Frank Worrell Ground, improvements can still be made, however. If Ganga wants to attract the West Indies selectors, he must turn 80s and 90s into 180s and 190s.

Dwayne Bravo must keep working on his obvious tendency to favour the onside © Getty Images
Tishan Maraj, who bats with the studiousness of the multi-talented intellectual that he is, must learn to appreciate – as Ganga has had to – that strokeless occupation of the crease works occasionally, but more often than not makes the opposing bowlers’ jobs easier. Bravo, for all of his impressive runs Down Under, must keep working on his obvious tendency to favour the on-side, while Lendl Simmons has been around long enough, even for such a young man, to start to contribute consistently in the many facets of his game.And what of Jamaica and Wavell Hinds, my choice to replace Chanderpaul as West Indies captain? At least the visiting skipper was man enough to admit that his team’s overall attitude and his own form in this match were deplorable. But it is one thing to acknowledge those shortcomings and entirely another to correct them for their next fixture in Barbados. How Hinds and his team react so soon after this crushing defeat will tell a lot about their quality as a unit and his ability as a motivator.For the moment, though, let’s enjoy this victory, without going so far as to make a place in the Cricket Board’s office for the trophy.