Calypso comeback?!?

WAY back around the time I still believed in Santa Claus - or at least told younger brothers I did - Australia vs the West Indies was something you looked forward to. I can still remember becoming vaguely aware of this continual presence on the idiot box every summer around the 1988-89 Australia/West Indies series, made famous in part due to a Merv Hughes hat-trick in the same match that Geoff Lawson stopped eating corn-on-the-cob and started acquainting himself with the wonders of soup after copping a fast one to the jaw.
By 1992-93 I was well and truly hooked: watching, hoping, praying as Tim May and Craig McDermott put together 40 runs to bring Australia within just 1 run - 1 run! - of besting the West Indies in a series for the first time since 1974-75. Four years later and every Queenslander breathed a sigh of relief as Matthew Hayden looked like he'd finally cracked it with a ton as Australia defended the Frank Worrell Trophy they'd won in the Caribbean in 1995.
Alas, those days are long gone. As Australia's curve went further and further upwards, the West Indies kept dropping quicker than Tiger Woods' reputation post-prang. Sure, there have been signs of recovery for this once-proud team: a world-record run-chase against Australia in 2003; a Champions Trophy win in the dark against England in 2004; and besting South Africa in the First Test as recently as Boxing Day 2007. All positive, but when you manage to put out a third-rate team and get done 2-0 by the might (ahem) of Bangladesh (with a total of, oh, 1 Test win to their name previously) earlier this year, most people didn't hold out much hope for the current series to be all that competitive.
So it's somewhat of a surprise that Australia and the West Indies head to Perth for the Third Test, with the West Indies only trailing 1-0. After a poor performance in the First Test at the Gabba, the Windies came back to arguably have the better of the drawn Second Test at the Adelaide Oval.
So what happens for Perth? Both teams have injury concerns: Australia is definitely without Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus (man of the match in Brisbane); while the West Indies could well be without Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Adrian Barath, whose debut century in Brisbane was one of the highlights of the tour.
So what do both teams need? For starters, Australia's batsmen need to realise they're well and truly off their learner plates and can actually exceed 100 without having their licence revoked. Australia have scored 10 fifties in two Tests; surely one of them will realise they're out of the city and on one of those German autobahns where raising a ton is merely an opening bid? You know you can reach 200 or so quite legally over there...
The bowling attack is also a cause for concern. Mitchell Johnson continues to mix brilliance with dross in a way that brings to mind Townsville's other great export, the North Queensland Cowboys; Doug Bollinger bowls ok without ever suggesting a long Test career is coming; while Clint McKay will make his debut after impressing in the One-Day series in India. Mind you, translating One-Day bowling form to the Test arena can be hard - just ask Brad Hogg.
Which brings us to the spinner.
At the time of writing Nathan Hauritz is in some doubt, although he still managed to bowl after copping a blow to his spinning finger during a fielding drill. One hopes he recovers in time, because the alternatives are too depressing to think about. On one hand, Australia could do what they did against India two years ago and play four pace men with Brett Geeves also making his debut, although one hopes the selectors follow the advice of anti-drugs campaigners and just say no there.
The other alternative is a young New South Wales all-rounder by the name of Steven Smith. He's just come off a successful match against Queensland, where he scored 102* in the first innings - and took 0/156 off 25 overs. A quick check of this season's statistics shows only three spinners have taken more than 10 wickets this season: Bryce McGain (13 at 34.46); Aaron O'Brien (12 at 42.21); and Jason Krejza (13 at 47.23). Smith has 6 wickets at an average of 81.50 this season - so far short of Earth-shattering they'd struggle to smash sand structures.
For the West Indies, it's basically a matter of continuing what they started in Adelaide. Chris Gayle needs to show his 165* was no fluke, while the other top order batsmen also need to show further grit. In this respect Brendan Nash seems to be an excellent addition to the batting order: while his strike-rate is a throwback to days gone by, he hangs around for over 90 balls an innings on average, allowing stroke-makers like Ramnaresh Sarwan and Gayle to do their thing.
The bowlers seem to have their own little pack emerging. Kemar Roach is very handy and will only get better; Sulieman Benn has amazing control to go with that 6'7" frame; and Dwayne Bravo chips in often enough with ball - and bat - to be decidely useful. If they still had Jerome Taylor, they may even have started this match slight favourites...
All in all though, this could well be another Test to match those that got me hooked in cricket in the first place. But where back then another West Indies win was considered the status quo; a Windies' win here could be the start of something interesting.