Pakistan has embarked on its short cricket tour of the West Indies with great expectations of the officials, the fans, as also the general followers of the game. The hosts have always proved to be the dominant figure in the tussles in their backyard and as the statistics show Pakistan has not been able to score a success in the Test series in the Carribbians. Perhaps the best that Pakistan had done was to record a win in the fifth Test at Queen's Park Oval, Port-of-Spain, by a convincing margin of an innings and one run in the 1957-58 season. This was not the skirmish in which Hanif Mohammad had hit a patient and classic 337 runs in the days of the West Indian supremacy but his elder brother, the thick set Wazir Mohammad, made a copy-book 189 against the electric speed of Gilchrist and the shrewd off-spin of Gibbs, through dedication and perfect skill.
The two spinners, Nasimul Ghani and Haseeb Ahsan were unplayable in the West Indies second knock and the visitors had the consolation of success by a huge margin.
The best performance of Pakistan on the Banana islands venues had been in the 1987-88 series under the helmsmanship of Imran Khan when the two combatants won a Test each to draw the three-match rubber. However, it goes without saying that Pakistan has yet to clinch a Test series on the home ground of the West Indies.
Whatever may have been the strength of the Carribbeans on their own soil these are hard times for them as the whitewash by the South Africans in both versions of the game shows. The last one-dayer - cut to 20 overs due to sheets of rain - too was grabbed by the Proteas comfortably. The Caribbeans are truly in the building up process.
The West Indian batting may be good enough to counter any sort of bowling but their pace attack lacks the venom and penetration of the great speedsters of yore like Garner, Marshall, Holding, Bishop and Walsh to name only a few of the giants. The bowling has also not the variety of Gibbs, Valentine, Ramadhin and Vivian Richards. Perhaps the Caribbean deficiency in bowling helped the South Africans to romp home with a 5-0 victory in the nascent version of the contest and they had a straight 4-0 success in the Test battles.
Nevertheless, as coach Bob Woolmer has said the Proteas belong to a higher classification and are comparatively more powerful both in batting and bowling than the West Indians. Even then Woolmer pointed out the Caribbeans should, under no circumstance, be taken lightly. In the fourth Test at St John's, Antigua, the home formation roared back to a South African first innings score of 588 to plunder 747 with Chris Gayle scintillating with a triple hundred, Lara coming up with a century, Chanderpaul striking 127 and Bravo was not behind with another hundred. The match ended in a draw despite the visitors having visions of triumph with a batting effort of 588 for six declared.
It was in this match, a graveyard for bowlers, that a record eight centuries were scored, with the batsmen having freedom to punish the bowlers. Under the circumstances one can only presume that on the sleeping strips of the Banana Islands the batsmen will have a field day and the bowlers will be on the receiving end.
If at all it is going to be a battle of tall scoring then the Pakistani observers of the game may point out the hurricane hitting in which Shahid Afridi was indulged in the warm-up one-dayer at Antigua. He almost slaughtered the bowlers with a 46-ball century. The later took far wickets for just six runs, Pakistan won the match hands down. The jeremiahs may point out the weaknesses in the opposing side but it is not easy to show the savage power in batting and take the total to 366 in 50 overs. Besides, the all-round capacities of the visiting squad brought down the Antigua and Barbada eleven for a mere 118 in 32.8 overs.
The Pakistani outfit, a balanced one, may be locking horns with the home side in both the limited overs and the Tests with their morale up after success on the Indian soil against a combination strong in batting and dangerous in bowling. A 4-2 win against India came as a nine-day wonder but it was a right and just outcome. The whole visiting team played as a unit and surprised the Indian pack in the Tests as well with a drawn series. This on their strip when they had brought down the Australians with essentially the spin craft.
Pakistan's key weapon will hopefully be leg-spinner, Danish Kaneria, on wickets which are supposed to be flat. However, the turn and flight of Kaneria may create problems for the West Indian batting line-up. With Kaneria will be the puzzling slow stuff of Afridi to add to the difficulties of the Caribbeans. Afridi gives plenty of air to the ball. Dead strips or fast Afridi will, in the opinion of the experts, be effective.
There will be considerable pressure on the home side now that Lara has been rested for the one-dayers. If at all the Pakistanis are successful in the one-dayers they may go into the Test fray with their tails up.
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