West Indies captain didn’t deserve Steve Smith’s put-down

JASON Holder, the West Indies’ young captain, doesn’t deserve to cop any flak for declining to take part in an artificial finish to the rain-ruined Sydney Test match.

Windies captain Jason Holder (R) checks his injured hand as vice-captain Kraigg Brathwaite (L) looks on during the final day of the third cricket Test match played in Sydney on January 7, 2016. AFP PHOTO / William WEST --IMAGE RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - NO COMMERCIAL USE--

JASON Holder, the West Indies’ young captain, doesn’t deserve to cop any flak — certainly not from his opposite number, Australian skipper Steve Smith — for declining to take part in an artificial finish to the rain-ruined Sydney Test match.

Declarations are a crucial and integral part of the way Test cricket is played but forfeiting an innings in pursuit of a contrived result — as Smith offered to do — doesn’t do much for its credibility.

After Holder rejected the plan to allow Australia to chase 370 off 70 overs, Smith lamented that the tourists “unfortunately didn’t come to the party.”

It was part complaint and part put-down and the Australian captain — who is doing a very good job in general but still learning about some of the finer points — would have been better off leaving it unsaid or at least adopting a different tone.

Here is what he DID leave unsaid: What would have happened if his team had found themselves 6-100, say, and with very little chance of winning? Would he have instructed his tailenders to continue to take up the challenge in order to keep the game alive, or would he have tried to kill it again rather than increase the risk of defeat?

His short history in the job suggests only one answer to that.

At the MCG two Boxing Days ago, he delayed a final day declaration until India were left to chase 384 in two sessions, which, to no one’s surprise, they made no attempt to do.

Smith should have declared at least an hour earlier but was cut plenty of slack because he was so new to the job and might have been acting on advice from more senior people.

In Perth earlier this summer, Australia’s second innings against New Zealand continued for 11 overs after lunch on the last day, leaving the tourists to get 321 in a session and a half. They too made no attempt.

Jason Holder refused Steve Smith’s offer of a double declaration to keep the third Test in Sydney alive. Picture: Getty Images

Smith is entitled to play by the old mantra about never giving a sucker an even break, but Holder was equally within his rights to take the opportunity to finish the series 0-2 rather than 0-3, which their improving form suggests they may have been able to do even if the weather had not wrecked the match.

You couldn’t possibly imagine Australia or England agreeing to decide an Ashes series in such a dubious way, so Smith’s proposal only adds to the perception of the West Indies as second-class citizens.

It is revealing, too, that Smith admitted coach Darren Lehmann had to scour the rule books to determine whether such an unorthodox procedure was even permissible.

They discovered it was — but the fact they were conscious it might not be suggests it probably was not a great idea in the first place.

If Smith — and the administration — wanted to turn a Test into a one-day game, they probably should have found a way of abandoning the dead contest and starting a new one.

OK, it wasn’t possible because there were too many logistic and protocol problems, but at least it might have saved Test cricket another minor embarrassment — David Warner scoring a meaningless century in two and a half hours of glorified net practice bereft of competitive tension.

It’s now part of his record and good luck to him. You take what you can get. But it really should carry an asterisk.

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Originally published as West Indies captain didn’t deserve Steve Smith’s put-down