“He who works with his hands is a laborer.
He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman.
He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist.”
- Francis of Assisi
The Australian team set foot on West Indian soil under Mark Taylor for the Frank Worrell Trophy. Richie Richardson, the West Indian skipper, said it was the weakest Australian team ever to tour the West Indies.
Australia lost the ODI series badly and Richardson’s remarks seemed to ring true. And when Craig McDermott was ruled out before the start of the Test series, Taylor’s hopes of winning the Frank Worrell Trophy received a major blow. Everyone’s faith in the young bowling attack and batting line up of Australia was wavering and a heavy thrashing was on the cards.
But as soon as the Test series commenced, the world witnessed something special.
To everyone’s astonishment, Australia won the first Test at Barbados and took a 1-0 lead in the series. The second Test at Antigua was washed out. West Indies staged a comeback in the third Test at Port of Spain, a Test famous for the face-off between Steve Waugh and Ambrose.
The fourth Test was at Kingston, Jamaica. In those days, a Test match in any part of the West Indies was a carnival. Loud music and a noisy crowd made it tough for the visiting team to perform well. On a bright sunny day, Jamaica’s Kingston Stadium was buzzing with anticipation.
“The crowd was an important factor. They were noisy, knew their cricket, and could be intimidating if you gave them room. It was a full house in Kingston and the bowl was resounding in anticipation of a West Indies victory,” Paul Reiffel had said.
The game begins
Richardson won the toss and elected to bat first.
Reiffel dismissed Stuart Williams for a duck but Lara and Richardson took the attack to Australia and cracked boundaries to draw roars from the crowd. A partnership of 103 threatened Taylor’s plans and to change the course of the game, he introduced Warne into the attack.
The majestic leggie struck immediately by dismissing Lara. The West Indian innings then lost momentum as they struggled to handle the disciplined bowling of Australia. Richardson scored a brilliant hundred, but he lacked support at the other end as his side were all out for 265 in the first innings.
Australia's reply was shaky. The hostile bowling of the Windies pacemen sent jitters through Australia’s batting line-up and at one point, they were reeling at 73 for 3.
The stage was set for Steve Waugh
As soon as Michael Slater was dismissed by Courtney Walsh, Steve Waugh joined his twin brother Mark at the crease. Ambrose, Walsh, Winston and Kenny Benjamin were pumped up and ran in to bowl like bloodthirsty black panthers. They delivered well-directed short balls on a regular basis while the close in fielders tried their best to affect Waugh's concentration.
But Waugh was fully focused and had no intention of getting carried away. He handled the first-ball bouncer masterfully and remained calm and composed despite all the sledging around him. He and his brother Mark decided to give the fast bowlers the first hour and just keep their wickets intact much to the bowlers’ frustration.
Steve then unfurled his back-foot stroke-play – drives, flicks and ruthless cuts silenced the talkative close-in fielders and vociferous crowd. He was offered a reprieve by Courtney Brown while batting on 42 and after that, was simply unstoppable.
According to Reiffel, “Steve had made up his mind to bat and bat, to stay out there and anchor the proceedings. In the process, he copped a lot of blows on his arms, chest, and ribs. When he came back to the dressing room at the end of day two, we could see the spots and bruises on his body, but as long as he was out there in the middle he just kept going at them.
“I remember when I walked in at No. 9, he didn't say anything to me, but then he didn't need to. We all pretty much knew that we just had to support him.
“Steve was in a trance. Two incidents illustrate this. The first was the famous confrontation with Ambrose in the third Test, where Steve told him to just bowl and Ambrose had to be dragged away by Richie Richardson.
“The second was when a security guard was found rifling through Steve's kit bag in the wee hours of the morning on the second day. That incident too didn't affect his concentration. It all it all just went to show how strong a character he was”.
While the close-in fielders expected Steve to have a go at them, they were forced to look on with frustration as he chatted only with his brother at the end of each over.
In his famous book, Out of My Comfort Zone, Steve wrote, “During this partnership Mark and I conversed at the end of every over — short messages of reassurance such as ‘Keep working hard’, ‘don’t relax now’, or, ‘They look like they’re beginning to tire’. By the end of the day, we had assumed control of the game and the Waugh twins had lived out a backyard dream by peeling off centuries and combining a double-hundred stand.”
Steve Waugh’s concentration was unwavering. His eyes, while facing the ball, hinted that he was only concerned about the position of the bowler’s wrist and the seam and nothing else. His main job was to score runs and bat the opposition out of the game.
“Between deliveries, I totally tuned out and switched off from the intensity of the game. The bowler beginning his run-up was the signal for me to move into ‘semi-awareness’ mode, watching but not being absorbed by the action.”
Memorable double ton on May Day
Carl Hooper’s spin bowling had resulted in many important breakthroughs for West Indies. On that day, he helped to break the mammoth stand between Steve and Mark Waugh as Mark was dismissed after scoring 126, but he still found it impossible to dislodge the other Waugh.
Steve, batting on 196, received a fullish delivery from Hooper which he pushed for four to deep fine leg. It was his first ever double hundred in Test cricket and it took a while for him to realise the significance of this knock. He raised his bat towards the dressing room while some of the Australians in the crowd invaded the pitch to surround their hero.
According to Justin Langer, “[Steve] showed he was prepared to put it all on the line, in the toughest conditions ... against probably the best fast bowler of our time. To stand up to him [Ambrose] and go toe to toe, it gave us a huge boost.”
Steve was the last man out and returned to the pavilion a hero.
His fighting knock helped Australia take a massive lead and after a rest day on May 2nd, the Aussies knocked off the West Indies in double quick time to win the Frank Worrell Trophy for the first time since 1977-78.
West Indies’ 15-year undefeated streak in Test series was over and a mighty kingdom fell in front of a passionate crowd at Kingston.
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