Tony Becca
LONDON:
THE WEST Indies were battling for survival when the second day of the first Test against England ended at Lord's yesterday.
At stumps on a hot and sunny day, the West Indies, replying to England's 568 off 121.4 overs in 549 minutes, were 208 for four and on the run even though Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 41 not out, and debutant Dwayne Bravo, 30 not out, were still alive and fighting bravely not against the pace of Steve Harmison, Matthew Hoggard or Simon Jones, but against the left-arm spin of Ashley Giles who grabbed three wickets for 58 runs in 20 accurate overs.
Left with 51 overs after a surprising end to England's first innings, the West Indies, thanks to left-handers Christopher Gayle, 66, and Devon Smith, 45, chipped to 118 without loss in 22 overs before Giles, with a little help from Hoggard and probably also umpire Daryl Harper, struck.
ADJUDGED LEG BEFORE
Smith, going back and attempting to steer the ball past gully, knocked the ball on to his stumps.
Then Gayle, sweeping with his right leg way down the pitch, was adjudged leg before wicket at 119 for two in the 25th over; and after Ramnaresh Sarwan had moved inside, played around a delivery from Hoggard and was leg before wicket at 127 for three in the 28th over, Giles picked up the prized scalp of captain Brian Lara when the left-hander went forward defensively and a straight delivery sneaked between bat and pad, nicked the edge of the bat and wicketkeeper Geraint Jones gleefully accepted the catch that made it 139 for four in the 32nd over.
LARA'S LOVELY CATCH
Resuming at 391 for two off 84.3 overs, England, thanks to Robert Key, who converted his maiden Test century into a double century, and to captain Michael Vaughan, who ticked off his second century against the West Indies, his third at Lord's and his 12th against all comers, hopped to 485 for two before, thanks to a lovely catch by Lara and a splendid post-lunch burst by pacer Pedro Collins, they lost the remaining eight wickets for 83 runs in 19.3 overs.
With England having ticked off their highest total against the West Indies at Lord's and apparently heading for bigger things, Key, on 221 and brimful of confidence after chalking up the highest score in an England/West Indies Test match at Lord's, reeled off a square-drive against medium-pacer Bravo and Lara, going low to his right at point, came up with a lovely one-handed catch.
That was 485 for three 40 minutes before lunch, and with both Graham Thorpe and Andrew Flintoff treating the bowling with contempt, chasing wide deliveries and departing quickly, it was 534 for five at lunch.
With Vaughan on 90 and Jones to come, the innings appeared far from over. In fact, the question during the interval was when would England declare the innings closed.
In a wonderful burst after the interval, however, in a spell during which he got the ball to pitch in the right places, Collins took four wickets in 21 deliveries while removing Geraint Jones caught by wicketkeeper Ridley Jacobs, Giles well caught by Smith going to his right at second slip, Vaughan caught by Smith at first for 103, and Simon Jones who was trapped leg before wicket at 563 for nine.
After that, and before Giles struck, the West Indies promised a strong reply.
In a wonderful start, in a parade of strokes that seemed as if they were saying to England's batsmen, to centurions Andrew Strauss, Key and Vaughan, anything you can do we can do, Gayle and Smith, and Gayle in particular, knocked Harmison and Hoggard out of the attack early and to the delight of the small band of West Indian fans on the ground.
PULLED OUT ATTACK
Harmison, 44 wickets in his last seven Test matches, was pulled out of the attack after conceding 24 runs in three overs including one during which Gayle smashed three boundaries and Smith one; and Hoggard was gone after conceding 20 runs in four overs.
The spin of Giles was crippling, however, his length was close to perfect, and like Lara, Smith, who stroked seven boundaries while facing 62 deliveries, and Gayle, who stroked seven boundaries on his way to 53 in 51 deliveries, were reduced to pushing and plodding forward in the hope of finding the ball.
SCOREBOARD
England first innings
(Resumed at 391-2)
R. Key c Lara b Bravo 221
M. Vaughan c Smith
b Collins 103
G. Thorpe c Jacobs b Bravo 19
A. Flintoff b Banks 6
G. Jones c Jacobs b Collins 4
A. Giles c Smith b Collins 5
M. Hoggard not out 1
S. Jones lbw Collins 4
S. Harmison b Bravo 4
Extras: (2b, 20lb, 13w, 13nb) 48
TOTAL: (all out) 568
Overs: 121.4.
Fall: 1-29, 2-320, 3-485, 4-527, 5-534, 6-541, 7-551, 8-557, 9-563, 10-568.
Bowling: Pedro Collins 24-2-113-4 (6nb, 5w), Tino Best 21-1-104-1 (1w), Fidel Edwards 21-2-96-0 (6nb, 3w), Dwayne Bravo 24.4-5-74-3 (4w), Omari Banks 22-3-131-2 (1nb), Ramnaresh Sarwan 9-0-28-0.
West Indies first innings
C. Gayle lbw Giles 66
D. Smith b Giles 45
R. Sarwan lbw Hoggard 1
B. Lara c G. Jones b Giles 11
S. Chanderpaul not out 41
D. Bravo not out 30
Extras: (4b, 8lb, 2nb) 14
TOTAL: (for four wkts) 208
Overs: 51.
Fall: 1-118, 2-119, 3-127, 4-139.
Bowling: Matthew Hoggard 15-2-57-1, Steve Harmison 9-2-40-0, Simon Jones 7-1-39-0 (2nb), Ashley Giles 20-3-58-3.
