West Indies' first series win for five years and its first over England since 1998 illustrates that Chris Gayle's side has finally managed to turn potential into results. One win in Kingston, followed by three drawn Tests, was enough to secure the long-awaited series victory although it was clinched in nervy fashion at the end with West Indies clinging on in the final over of the series with just two wickets remaining. The tension was almost unbearable for West Indies fans not only because of the drama of England's valiant effort to snatch a victory at the death but because the wait for a taste of success has been so long and has included so many false dawns. After the innings victory in Jamaica both skipper Gayle and coach John Dyson were wary of talk of corners being turned and prudently urged people wait until the end of the series before making such emphatic judgements. It still feels too soon to declare that West Indies cricket is back but the series showed at least that it is back on track. There were few surprises in the individual performances and no players emerged as exciting new talents - runs came from familiar sources, the quality of Ramnaresh Sarwan, who made three centuries and a 94, the resilience of Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Gayle himself at the top of the order. On the bowling front, Fidel Edwards and Jerome Taylor proved they are a good opening pair and Sulieman Benn showed he is the spinner that merits the investment of time and faith that is being shown in him. What has changed in this West Indies team is the attitude and application has reached a level where they are now a much-harder team to break down. “I think it is a grit and determination that we have. I am not saying we never had it before but Chris has mentioned that we have really worked very hard on our game and we have developed an understanding with each other,” said Sarwan after Tuesday's win. “The guys are pretty aware of what they need to do in certain situations. Take Fidel as an example, the way he batted in Antigua to get the draw and then applied himself the same way in the final game it was great to see. “This is something that has to continue and we do hope we can build on it,” he said. The new confidence was epitomized by wicketkeeper-batsman Denesh Ramdin who has long been criticized for his failure to make big scores but who was probably the major positive for the team. As well as being fairly immaculate behind the stumps, he made his maiden Test century in Barbados and then carried the team through the tense final session at the Queen's Park Oval. While the core of the team is solid and now pretty established there remain some positions in the team that are still to be settled. For once though, West Indians are looking at fine tuning their side rather than lambasting it.
