WHAT HAPPENS when you turn the corner too many times? You end up going in circles. And the West Indies have been turning the corner for almost 10 years now.

I once watched a movie where a golf caddie asked a man trying to chip his way out of a bunker, "What is the definition of insanity?"

The caddie's answer to his own question was, "Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result."

It seems a simple enough answer but it is one the West Indies cricket team must not know.

Maybe they never watched the movie.

I watched their five-wicket, Twenty20 win over South Africa recently and, unlike many others, I was quite perturbed by it.

Strange?

Well ... maybe, but I am acutely aware of the fact that the West Indies have failed for so long because of their inability to play an entire game of cricket.

They will bowl and field well in this game then maybe bat well in another, but rarely do they perform in all departments in a given match.

Did not play well

In a game reduced to 13 overs a side, the West Indies, though they won, did not play the entire game well.

Hats off to Jerome Taylor for his bowling performance and the ability of the team to stifle an attack notorious for cutting loose on occasions.

However, when it came time to bat, inexperienced players like Brenton Parchment failed to capitalise. What was even more harrowing was the fact that Chris Gayle, in his captain's diary, lauded the opening batsman for being aggressive against Shaun Pollock, though he was back in the pavilion in six balls!

Team not learning

This tells me the team is not learning. If the captain cannot recognise the flaw in Parchment's actions, then what's to be done?

It is statements like Gayle's which make me think the West Indies' recent win doesn't mean they have turned the corner. Or rather, they have turned the corner and are headed back in the direction of mediocrity.

Now a Boxing Day Test match is looming large and the West Indies will have to concentrate for more than 26 overs. Can they do that?

I say they can't. And I say they can't because they don't know how to assess situations and pay attention to the big picture. The young team - and that it is - pays too much attention to moments in the game and this clouds its vision of what could happen. Paying attention to what could happen makes you a more responsible player.

Their captain, a talented batsman, doesn't understand this either. Even after the 13-over Twenty20 game, Gayle was still oblivious to the fact that his opener put the team under more pressure than necessary, given the paltry total posted by South Africa.

With that said, the West Indies, in preparation for Boxing Day, are currently taking on South Africa A. And my greatest fears seem to be realising itself.

Hurtful to pride

In the first innings the West Indies were sent packing for 193.

Even more hurtful to my pride as a West Indian is the fact that Runako Morton (54), Rawl Lewis (40) and Darren Sammy (40) accounted for 134 of those runs. Where was the rest of the team?

In reply, South Africa A were 351 for seven. An uphill battle awaits the tourists and I can't, for the life of me, understand why it is that we have to come from behind almost every time we play.

Or maybe I do understand it. South Africa will whip us in this series if we don't bat, field and bowl well in each game.

Cricket games don't end until they are declaring the man of the match.

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