- Reuters
The West Indies' Ramnaresh Sarwan avoids a bouncer from England's Stephen Harmison on the first day of the second Test in Port of Spain, Trinidad yesterday.
Tony Becca, Contributing Editor
WEST INDIES batting is some times brilliant and some times disappointing.
Sometimes, however, it is a bit of both, and although it was more of the latter than the former, that was the case on the opening day of the second Test against England at Queen's Park Oval yesterday when it flattered only to deceive.
Winning the toss and batting first on what, despite the presence of a generous layer of grass, appeared a nice, friendly pitch with the ball coming onto the bat at a comfortable height, the West Indies, led by Christopher Gayle, 62, and Devon Smith, 35, raced to 100 without loss in the 25th over after only 103 minutes before losing eight wickets for 89 runs and struggling to 189 for eight off 54 overs when bad light after two rain interruptions ended the day's play at 6:00 p.m. - one hour after the scheduled close.
At one stage, the West Indies were on the run at 113 for four after losing four wickets for 13 runs in five overs, and after recovering somewhat to reach 142 for four, they were again on the run at 148 for seven after losing three wickets for six runs in six overs.
GLORIOUS START
As it was at Sabina Park when they were shot down for a record low 47 while losing by 10 wickets, the man who ambushed the West Indies and sent them running for cover after their glorious start was none other than fast bowler Steve Harmison who got the ball to move off the seam and to bounce appreciably in his second spell.
Following on from his magnificent seven for 12 on Sunday, Harmison, playing in his 14th Test match, pocketed the third five-wicket haul of his career with five for 48 off 17 overs - including a burst of three wickets for one run in eight deliveries that rocked the home team and then left them dizzy at 110 for three after they were sailing along nicely.
Simon Jones, the fast bowler who England expected to have been their hitman in the series but who so far has been totally overshadowed by Harmison, picked up the fourth wicket at 113.
Batting like men on a mission - a mission to punish the England bowlers for their merciless attack at Sabina Park, Gayle and Devon Smith delighted the fans with an array of strokes, and with 19 fours and one six in the first 100 runs, a flood of boundaries as they drove - off the back foot and on the front foot, pulled, hooked and cut a set of bowlers who, based on their lack of control and their aggression and including Harmison, looked like impostors compared to their brilliance in the second innings at Sabina Park.
Gayle, who got off the mark with a powerful front-foot drive to the cover boundary off Matthew Hoggard, paraded a majestic stroke when he eased on to the front-foot and drove left-arm spinner Ashley Giles to the extra-cover boundary and powered the West Indies to 48 without loss and past the dreaded 47 with three magnificent boundaries in one over off Harmison.
They were a front-foot drive to wide long-off, a back-foot drive past point and a pull to mid-wicket. He stroked and smashed 12 fours and one six, off Giles over mid-wicket, while Devon Smith stroked seven boundaries and the pair of left-handers were going great guns when Harmison struck and then silenced the gathering, the West Indian part of it, with another deadly spell.
After conceding 27 runs off six overs from the north, Harmison, running in from the south - the direction from which he was almost unplayable at Sabina Park, removed Gayle with the fourth delivery at 100 for one - the batsman going back, opening the face of the bat, and steering a catch to Andrew Flintoff at second slip.
HOPPING ABOUT
In the following over, Devon Smith was leg before wicket at 110 for two, and in the same over it was 110 for three when, Lara, hopping about for three deliveries like a cat on hot tin roof, came off the ground in an attempt to fend off a short, rising delivery and was caught by Giles at gully for his second zero in a row.
Jones made it 113 for four when he removed Shivnarine Chanderpaul for two - the left-hander going back and nicking a catch to wicketkeeper Chris Read.
With Ramnaresh Sarwan playing a few lovely cuts square of the wicket and Dwayne Smith, swinging at everything and missing all but a few, pulling Harmison high into the new double-decker stand behind mid-wicket for a huge six, the West Indies stopped the skid for a while and added 29 runs before the ambitious Smith swung at Harmison again and Nasser Hussain, stationed some 40 yards away at mid-wicket, strolled in a few yards, waited for the ball to come down, and took a comfortable catch.
That was 142 for five, Harmison made it 143 for six when Sarwan, going back to a rising delivery, edged a catch to Flintoff at second slip and despite the loss of 36 overs, only the usually defiant Ridley Jacobs with 29 not out held up England on a day when the West Indies batsmen looked so good and then so terrible - a day when Harmison once again paraded his skill and once again, with a little help from his colleagues, picked them off one by one.
Opening day of the second Cable & Wireless Test between the West Indies and England at the Queen's Park Oval.
West Indies first innings
C. Gayle c Read b Harmison 62
D.Smith lbw Harmison 35
R. Sarwan c Flintoff b Harmison 21
B. Lara c Giles b Harmison 0
S. Chanderpaul c Read b Jones 2
D. Smith c Hussain b Harmison 16
R. Jacobs not out 29
T. Best c Read b Hoggard 1
A. Sanford run out (Vaughan/Read) 1
P. Collins not out 6
Extras: (7lb, 6w, 3nb) 16
TOTAL: (for eight wkts) 189
Overs: 54
Fall: 1-100, 2-110, 3-110, 4-113, 5-142, 6-143, 7-148, 8-165.
Bowling: Matthew Hoggard 15-3-38-1 (1nb), Steve Harmison 17-5-48-5, Andrew Flintoff 10-3-38-0 (2nb, 5w), Ashley Giles 3-0-20-0, Simon Jones 9-1-38-1 (1w).
