What a feeling!

Don’t worry! We are not getting carried away. One Test does not win a series and West Indies are not the same team they were in the 1980’s and early 1990’s. Nevertheless, last week’s win in Guyana, on one of the slowest pitches I have ever played, was a special achievement and it had a great feeling. I guess that the fact that we have not won before in the Caribbean is, in part, a statistical anomaly, a reflection of the fact that prior to this series we’d only played a total of four Tests here in two tours in 1997 and 2003. But we aspire to winning in all countries and creating history made the victory sweeter.

At the outset, I must congratulate Chaminda. His role was immense. Taking eight wickets in the game – not forgetting a valuable fifty – on that featherbed of a pitch is a great achievement and a true testament of his outstanding skill as fast bowler. I was asked yesterday why it was that he can be so effective on the most tracks imaginable for fast bowlers. My answer was simple – he is a master of his own bowling. He knows exactly what he is doing. His incredible accuracy can really test batsman on such surfaces.

If you look back over the Guyana Test you’ll see how his variations, the occasional bouncer or off-cutter, were so precisely executed. Yes, in theory, he lacks the pace to bowl bouncers, but he showed with Devon Smith, who fell into our long-leg trap, that he can still create problems by getting the ball in exactly the right spot.

The final day of the game will live long in my memory. We turned up knowing full well that it would be tough taking nine wickets in the day. The first priority was to close them down and that meant some really accurate and frugal bowling for the first session. In that regard, Murali and Rangana, did their job brilliantly. They set us up well and grabbing the wicket of Bravo was perfect-timing. The afternoon session, assuming we ruled out their chances in the morning, was always going to be the key. We were able to attack a little bit more and we expected reverse swing to start becoming a factor. Fortunately, both Vaasy and Thushara showed a lot of heart.

Taking four wickets in the middle session swung the game our way, and then with two straight after tea it looked like we would wrap it up quite easily. But Gayle and Taylor batted well and in the final hour we had to make the decision to try the second new ball. The key to this was making sure Vaasy would be bowling at Taylor, which we achieved because they were not rotating the strike.Vaasy put the ball in exactly the right spot to get Taylor in trouble and then also cleaned-up Darren Powell, although he was helped by Murali’s marvelous catch. We were amazed he pulled it off, running back like a hungry pup and leaping one-handed, and it could not have been a better ending.

We have had a few nail-biting finishes in recent memory and the fact that we are starting to clinch them is an encouraging sign. I think it shows that as a Test team we have come a little more calm and collected in how we go about our cricket. We have also become a bit tougher mentally and trust each other more to fulfill our specific roles.

Aside from Vaasy and Murali, as well as Mahela who batted beautifully and led the team creatively, special mention must be made of Malinda Warnapura. I thought he showed great maturity. He constructed his innings carefully, maintained his tempo well and accelerated at the right time. He now has a great chance to maximize his good form. One of the lessons I have learnt as a batsman is that you don’t have to be stylish or pleasing to the eye – you have to be effective. A good route to success is to know how to work with what you have. Understanding your own game and maximizing the potential of your game in different conditions is important. I think Malinda knows his game pretty well.

We are all now training hard for the second game. The practice looks set to be cancelled as Tobago were struggling to put out a decent team. But that is no bad thing. We can rest properly and make sure we are good to go when the second Test starts on Thursday. We have to now finish the job.