Sammy in Antigua - something to cherish

With three matches gone out of the scheduled five, the West Indies trail South Africa 0-3 in the five-match one-day international (ODI) series, and barring a surprise, it should be 4-0 after today's fourth and penultimate match.

After the two matches in the Twenty20 contest it was, up to this morning, five victories for South Africa and none for the West Indies, with two matches in the limited-overs series to go and the three Test matches to come.

Normally that would be something to make me angry, and especially so after both teams had been knocked out of the World Twenty20 in the Super Eights, after both teams had won only one match each, and with this being a kind of shoot-out between two of the also-rans.

One performance so far during the series, however, has tempered my feelings, and as a West Indian, I am grateful for it.

On Monday, Darren Sammy made a glorious attempt to lift the West Indies in the second ODI.

lamented losing

As one who rejoiced during their winning days years ago, as one who has always lamented their losing position in recent years, as one who has always said that losing, like winning, is a part of sport, as one who, however, has always hated to see the West Indies losing, and as one who also hated not so much the West Indies losing but how they kept losing, I have to lift my hat to the West Indies, at least to Sammy.

The West Indies are still losing - they lost the third ODI on Friday. That still hurts, remembering how Kieron Pollard got out on Friday and how Jerome Taylor ran himself out, especially as they were still going down without a fight.

On Friday, after Monday's bravado - playing so well in the field, limiting South Africa to 224 - the West Indies went down by 67 runs, with 12 overs still to be bowled.

Sammy may never repeat Monday's brilliance, but it was a performance which not only showed the world that the West Indies do have a few people who can play cricket, but also that they have some who still possess something called pride and who can stand up and fight.

After shedding a tear on so many occasions, I was happy last Monday when Sammy drilled South Africa with some awesome shots and gave hope of a West Indies victory as he tried, desperately, to pull his team out of the jaws of defeat.

On a nice, placid pitch, and against some average bowling and indifferent fielding, South Africa coasted to 300 for five off the allotted 50 overs. The West Indies were struggling at 200 for six off 40.4 overs when Sammy, striding like a soldier, walked out to bat.

At that stage, the West Indies needed 101 runs to win off 9.2 overs. Nobody, probably not even Sammy's mother and father, gave them a chance, and yet Sammy looked confident.

He seemed like a man who believed it could still happen. He looked like a man on a mission.

blast the bowling

After walking up to colleague Dwayne Bravo and talking to him in a manner which suggested he was telling him that they can do it, then losing Bravo and then the injured Ramnaresh Sarwan at 236 for six at the start of the 45th over, Sammy proceeded to blast the bowling. One shot, a straight-drive off pacer Morne Morkel, all but took the bowler and the umpire with it as the ball, low and deadly like a scud missile, flew past them before dropping a few metres short of the boundary.

For 43 minutes, Sammy smashed 58 not out off 24 deliveries, the first 50 coming off 20 deliveries with six sixes and two fours.

With victory out of the question when he strolled to the crease, victory was in sight when, with 18 runs needed to win off just 12 deliveries, and with two wickets in hand, Sammy was left stranded when Ravi Rampaul and Kieron Pollard (running for the injured Nikita Miller) was run out towards the end of the innings.

Dale Richards, with a fighting 51, and Bravo, with a wonderful innings of 74 off 70 deliveries, played their part at the start of the innings; but the hero, the near miracle-worker, was Sammy.

Men before him, batsmen like Richards, who cracked a century in a Test match off 56 deliveries, Chris Gayle and Brendon McCullum, who each blasted a century in Twenty20 cricket off 50 deliveries, and Shahid Afridi, who smashed a century in an ODI off 37 deliveries, have been as exciting as Sammy was on Monday in Antigua.

For me, however, as a West Indian, it was wonderful to see, and the pity of it was that it did not inspire the West Indies to victory on Friday.

I will never forget South Africa's delight when, with the West Indies attempting to get their hero on strike, captain Graeme Smith ran out "runner" Pollard with a direct hit to cut Sammy short, to leave the man with the bat for a wand, high and dry.

I also will never forget the look of admiration, the look of amazement on the faces of the South Africans when, after congratulating Smith on his rescue act, they walked over and, one by one, respectfully shook Sammy's hands.