By Simon Evans
ROSEAU, Dominica, April 27 (Reuters) – Australia’s 2-0
series win over West Indies, capped by a 75 run victory in the
third test on Friday, was not an emphatic statement that all is
well with the former world champions but it still showed Michael
Clarke’s team are making progress.
The 4-0 series triumph over India prior to this campaign was
a clear sign Australia can dominate in familiar home conditions
but winning in the Caribbean required some different qualities.
The current West Indies team, blooding young, inexperienced
players, particularly in their top order batting, does not
present one of the sternest tests in international cricket at
the moment.
But the contemporary Caribbean surfaces, slow and turning,
do offer a challenge of their own and Australia, with a number
of players making their first appearance in the region, handled
themselves well.
“It’s been the dedication, the will to try to get better to
take this team to a new level that has seen us have success,”
Clarke said.
“We’ve played against India who are a wonderful test team
with a lot of very good players, we’ve played in conditions here
that not many guys are accustomed to against a fighting West
Indian team and manage not just to play well but we’ve won six
out of seven test matches so that’s something we should be very
proud of,” he said.
The Australians don’t have the headline names that lit up
some of the teams of the past – there is no intimidating opening
batsman, no paceman to really strike fear into opponents and no
world-class spin threat.
But there is a batting line-up that has enough quality and
promise, matched with the remaining experience in Mike Hussey,
Clarke and former skipper Ricky Ponting, to get enough runs,
especially when helped by a tail that twice produced
match-winning contributions.
The seam attack will certainly enjoy better fortune on more
favourable surfaces while spinner Nathan Lyon shows real
promise.
Behind the sticks, Matthew Wade, who kept well and made a
key century in the third test, showed himself to be an able
alternative to Brad Haddin who had to sit out the series.
No player will head home having had such an outstanding tour
that will define their career, but Clarke will look around the
airplane and struggle to find a player who hasn’t made a key
contribution at some stage.
“Individually players mightn’t have performed as well as
they would have liked but as a team we still got the result done
and I think that’s a really good sign of a great team,” Clarke
said.
“I’ve said for a long time that the focus is the team having
success, the team winning games of cricket and unfortunately in
this game you can’t always perform individually.
“You’re going to have down times and you’re not going to
make as many runs as you’d like or take as many wickets as you
can but if you can help contribute to the team’s success then
you play a big part in this team. I think we’ve done that
throughout this series.”.
Clarke now heads off to the Indian Premier League and
Australia as a team will focus on the shorter forms of the game
until November’s home tests against South Africa.
And while Clarke himself acknowledges they are still some
way from recapturing the top ranking in test cricket, he can
feel well satisfied with the progress made under his maturing
captaincy.
(Editing by Julian Linden)
