IF for no other reason than their resolute defending, the Reggae Boyz deserve all the kudos for holding the mighty Argentines to a respectable result in their football friendly last Wednesday night in Mar del Plata.

In coming to within a whisker of creating one of the biggest upsets in the history of the sport, the feisty Jamaicans displayed grit and determination and even stole a march on their hosts through a 46th-minute header from the clinical Ryan Johnson.

As the minutes ticked away, sheer anxiety was etched on the face of under-pressure coach Diego Maradona. His animated gestures on getting the equaliser, then the winning goal, spoke volumes of the seriousness with which he took the game.

On this occasion, however, we’re more concerned about the antics of the West Indies team in their limited-over series Down Under.

Two-nil down at the penning of this article, with the third match ending in a no-result, Chris Gayle’s team seems poised for an ignoble, but not unfamiliar, defeat after being twice dismissed for under 200 runs.

With Gayle predicting a 4-1 victory before the start of the series, I’m sure Ricky Ponting and his men are hell-bent on making the West Indies skipper eat his ill-advised words, despite the purely psychological effect that they were designed to achieve.

The truth is that Gayle’s utterances were devoid of any empirical or historical base, for to suggest that a depleted side — without its most experienced players in Shiv Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Jerome Taylor and Fidel Edwards — could overcome the methodical Aussies, was as unwise and unrealistic as Tony Greig’s infamous utterances ahead of the West Indies’ 1976 series in England.

Gayle’s next comment, which came after the first two games, was a much more serious one, however. Obviously displeased with the composition of the team, not to mention the embarrassing defeats, the big left-hander forthrightly declared that changes would be made, and that he himself would effect them.

This was a not too subtle hint at some measure of variance in the Windies camp, since presumably the final XI would be arrived at after consultation involving the manager, coach and captain.

Further, it smacked of a lack of regard and respect for the management team, of which Gayle is technically a part.

This brings into sharp focus the contrast in selection culture that obtains with football and cricket; in football, the coach is the one who has the final say.

Indeed, the third game did see two changes — one of them by default — with Wavell Hinds replacing the clueless Runako Morton, and Darren Sammy coming in for the injured Kemar Roach.

For some reason, successive selectors have been looking to create a miracle out of Morton who, despite having a slew of chances in the regional side, has failed to make a splash in either form of the game.

In fact, Morton’s dubious claim to fame is the record for the slowest ever One-Day International century.

Yet, the greatest puzzle for me in relation to the team Down Under is that after three matches, the dependable Brendan Nash has still not been given a look-in. While the little Australian-born lefty is no ‘ball beater’, he nonetheless has the ability to occupy the crease and have the innings built around him.

In this regard, Nash is akin to Larry Gomes, Jimmy Adams and Chanderpaul — players whose styles are key in any world-class set-up. In all honesty, if ever the Windies needed a level-headed accumulator or runs, the time is certainly at hand.

Cricket is obviously not all about winning or losing; it’s about healthy competition among peoples of disparate backgrounds and experiences.

However, the professional environment which pervades the modern game would suggest that the manner in which a team loses is also very important, as to a significant degree it mirrors its character.