Tony Becca, Contributor

THE THIRD and final Test of the series between the West Indies and Pakistan ended in Karachi on Friday with the home team winning the match to take the contest by a comfortable 2-0 margin.

In a wonderful performance, Pakistan nailed the West Indies by 199 runs with over an hour to spare and, despite what some may say, they deserve a pat on the back for a job well done.

According to some people, including a few of the West Indies players, the pitch at the National Stadium was one of the worst they had ever seen and that it contributed to the poor performance of the West Indies.

I say no, and I say no for many reasons. Reason number one is that although the pitches were different, the West Indies performance in Karachi was no worse that it was in Lahore where, after winning the toss and batting first, the West Indies lost the first Test by nine wickets after they were routed for 206 on the first day and, after Pakistan had eased to 485, for 291 in their second innings.

Reason number two is that after winning the toss in Karachi and deciding to bat first despite the fact that of the previous 21 results there 17 were for the side batting second and only four for the side batting first, Pakistan scored 304, removed the West Indies for 260 after they were sinking at 216 for nine, rattled up 399 for six declared after they were cruising along at 365 for three before going for quick runs and then drilled the West Indies for 244.

Reason number three is that with Imran Farhat scoring 47, Younis Khan 20 run out, Kamran Akmal 31 and Umar Gul 26, with Christopher Gayle scoring 40, Daren Ganga 81, Shivnarine Chanderpaul 36 after stroking the ball beautifully, Denesh Ramdin 50, with Younis returning to score 38 in the second innings, Inzamam ul-Haq 58 not out, and then with Brian Lara scoring 49, Ramnaresh Sarwan 35 retired hurt, Chanderpaul 69, Dwayne Bravo 26 and Ramdin 26 not out, a number of batsmen got a start, looked good, and just did not carry on.

Centuries

On top of that, and apart from the fact that Pakistan were 72 for one when Younis was run out in their first innings and later on 178 for three, it should be remembered that the West Indies were 51 without loss in their first innings, that Pakistan were 122 for one in their second innings, and lest it be forgotten, it should also be remembered that Mohammed Hafeez scored 104 in Pakistan's second innings and that Mohammad Yousuf scored 102 in their first innings and 124 in their second innings.

According to those who condemn the pitch, it was slow and the bounce was uneven, and that was true. The bounce was not so much uneven as it was low, however, and the combination of a slow and low pitch can be difficult for stroke players.

For those who can bat, however, it is not that difficult on which to bat, and especially in this day and age when so many Test matches end in a draw, instead of complaining, those who love cricket should welcome a pitch that has produced 22 results in 39 matches - a pitch on which a Test match ended in a victory for one side, not in two or three or four days, but in one hour less five days.

In other words, the Test did not finish in a boring draw after three innings - and more importantly, it did not finish in three days with no team reaching 150 in any innings like the one between the West Indies and Australia at Queen's Park Oval in 1995, it did not finish before lunch on the third day like the Test match between the West Indies and England at Edgbaston in 1995, it did not finish in three days like the one between the West Indies and South Africa in Port Elizabeth in 1999, and it did not finish after a mere 56 minutes play like the one between the West Indies and England at Sabina Park in 1998.

The pitch in Karachi was slow and it was low, but it was not dangerous. No ball, for example, flew and hit any batsman on the gloves much more in his chest. One batsman, Mohammad Yousuf, was hit on the helmet - and that was when he ducked into a short delivery which did not get up and hit him on the back of the helmet.

A slow pitch tests the quality of batsmen and, as Rahul Dravid demonstrated at Sabina Park earlier this year, as Mohammad Yousuf, Mohammed Hafeez and the many who got a start but failed to go on demonstrated in Karachi, while he may not be able to freely reel off drives after drives, a good batsman, a Test batsman, can still bat long and score runs on it.

The West Indies, moving from 51 without loss to 51 for three in the first innings, lost Gayle, Lara and Sarwan not because of the pitch, but because of brilliant bowling.

Gayle, as so often happens even on the best pitch, was bowled off the inside edge; Lara was bowled off-stump by a beauty that came into him through the air and then left him after hitting the pitch; and Sarwan was destroyed by a magnificent inswinging yorker.

After that, Chanderpaul flicked a short delivery from Danish Kaneria straight into short-leg's lap.

Tentative footwork

Hardly anyone, and certainly no one in the second innings, was undone by the pitch. The West Indies batsmen, many of whom's footwork was tentative, many of whom played too much across the line, were undone by three pace bowlers who swung the ball appreciably and dropped it on a spot and by a spin bowler, a leg-break and googly bowler who spun the ball viciously.

Even if the pitch in Karachi was really that difficult, every time I hear the condemnation of it, each time I remember Yousuf, Chanderpaul and Lara stroking the ball sweetly and confidently, I remember the Johnnie Walker World Golf Championship of 1995 at Tryall.

Before the tournament some of the players, including John Daly of the United States, complained about the course. According to them, the breeze was too strong, the roughs were too high and the greens were too slow.

At a press conference on the day before the start of the tournament, which carried a first prize of US$550,000, I asked Mark McCormack of IMG, the word-renowned marketing company, for a response to the complaints and he took the microphone and said simply: "We have produced a course not to suit the best players in the world, but to find out who is the best player in the world."

The pitch in Karachi was not bad and instead of blaming it for the West Indies defeat, West Indians should look at West Indies cricket and try to find out why our batsmen, most of them, are sitting ducks whenever conditions are not perfect and whenever the ball is swinging, cutting or spinning more than usual, why our bowlers are so inconsistent in line and length that even those who swing, cut or spin the ball are easy pickings even on difficult pitches and why it is that our fielders cannot catch.