Date-stamped : 26 Mar94 - 10:28 England v West Indies, Test 3, 25-30 Mar 94 Queen's Park Oval, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad ====>Day 1, 25 Mar 94 The WI middle order collapsed in almost dramatic style on the first day of the 3rd C&W Test at Queen`s Park Oval, Trinidad. Seemingly well placed at 158 for 1, the WI lost 6 wickets in quick succession to end the day at 227 for 7. WI won the toss and, in another surprising decision, Richardson decided to bat first. He and Haynes opened and soon found things quite different compared to Bourda. The English bowlers were get- ting the ball to move about and there were some quite surprising lift for both Fraser and Caddick, who finally decided to bend his back a little. They both bowled well and the WI should have been 12 for 1. Haynes, driving a little early to a Fraser delivery, gave a simple chance to Atherton fielding at wide midoff and the England skipper grassed the catch. Both Haynes and Richardson played very watchfully and at times were beaten by some good seam bowling by the England pacers. It was slow, un-WI-like progress, but the WI went to lunch without losing a wicket. After lunch, the WI openers continued to play cautiously but Haynes (38) soon went bowled by Salisbury. He tried to pull an apparent long hop (which turned out to be a topspinner) missed and had his leg stump knocked back. Lara and Richardson played cautiously, pun- ishing the odd loose ball, but for the most part it was defending against some very tight bowling. Richardson was dropped at slip by Thorpe off the unfortunate Fraser. It was a sitter and it went in and out BEFORE Thorpe could close his hands!! At the end of the over, Fraser kicked the ground in disgust but got a good round of applause from the crowd as he took his place at fine leg. He even had the composure to sign a few autographs. Things began to happen with the score at 158. Richardson (63)swung at a high full toss from Salisbury, was hit on the thigh of the rt. leg and given out lbw. On the same score, Lara (38) was judged lbw by Venkat playing no shot to a Lewis delivery. The ball pitched wide outside offstump and cut back sharply but it looked to have been MISSING offstump and was also a bit too high. Lara must count himself unlucky. At 163, Adams (1) played defensively to Lewis, did not keep the ball down and was well caught by Smith at silly midoff. At the same score, Arthurton (2) pushed forward from the crease, was beaten by the movement and was plumb out lbw to Lewis. Young Chanderpaul, playing in only his second test, and Junior Murray set about repairing the damage. Chanderpaul, looking com- posed, and Murray, playing as best as he could against Salisbury, appeared to be to have the situation well in hand. Chanderpaul played an exquisite on-drive off Salisbury and together with Mur- ray took the score past 200 when disaster struck. England had al- ready claimed the new ball and Chanderpaul pulled Fraser sweetly to the midwicket boundary. But in the same over, he played a rather LOOSE half- defensive shot from the crease with the bat WELL AWAY from the pad, missed the ball totally and was bowled. Fraser was bowling around the wicket and the ball pitched outside offstump but held its line, angling into the little left-hander, who played down the WRONG line (outside the ball) and the ball sneaked thru bat and pad. He made 19. The next wicket to fall was that of WBenjamin, who was bowled by Fraser and, like Chander- paul, played down the wrong line (this time playing inside the delivery). Murray and Ambrose were still there at the close. The English bowlers stuck to their task and bowled well on a pitch offering some assistance. With the possible exception of Fraser, they all hit the deck harder with Lewis bowling very lively at times and getting some good lift. Bowling coach Goeff Arnold`s charges FINALLY listened and this performance must leave him and all English fans with a smile on their lips and a song in their hearts. As a WI fan, I can only shake my head and wonder "What if we had BOWLED first instead!". Contributed by Cliff.Shivcharan (charan@bnr.ca) ====> Day 4, 29 Mar 94 There was HIGH drama on the 4th day of the 3rd C&W test at the Queen's Park Oval in Trinidad with the day dominated by two performances, one by 19 yr old Shivnarine Chanderpaul with the bat and the other (MORE DOMINANT) by Curtley Ambrose with the ball. The day began with the WI reeling at 143 for 5 (in effect 67 for 5) and the balance of the game swinging FIRMLY in England's favour. In fact for the previous 2 and 1/2 days England were in command and it was clear that, as this 4th day started, the WI HOPES rested squarely on the very SLENDER shoulders of Chanderpaul, playing in only his 2nd test. Well, the young man DID NOT disappoint. Putting his head down, he played the sheet anchor role as he lead a WI late order revival. He and Junior Murray played watchfully, pushing for singles and two with the odd boundary coming few and far in between. Chanderpaul, when on 4, had a HUGE slice of luck as Hick put down a relatively easy catch at slip off Lewis bowling from over the wicket. In fact, Chanderpaul looked uncomfortable in this entire Lewis over. But he stuck it out and his confidence seem to grow with every ball. He lost Murray(14) with the score on 167, fishing outside the offstump to a Caddick delivery. WBenjamin came in and, mixing defence with his patented brand of aggression, he and Chanderpaul batted thru to lunch without being separated. At lunch, WI were 221 for 6 with Chanderpaul on 25 and WBenjamin on 33. Even Mike Holding could afford a smile at this stage. Play was held up for 1 1/2 hrs due to rain and it looked at that stage that the weather was about to save the WI. However, after an early tea, play resumed at about 2.35 PM. After the resumption, neither Chanderpaul nor WBenjamin looked settled and it was no surprise when Benjamin, in trying to play an on drive off Lewis, lobbed a catch to Fraser at midon who took it well. Benjamin had made 35 and he and Chanderpaul had added 60 VERY VALUABLE runs to the WI cause. Ambrose joined Chanderpaul, who on 29 had given another easy chance to Hick off Caddick, and with Ambrose hitting some LUSTY blows while Chanderpaul played resolutely, they took the score to 247 when Ambrose attempted a HUGE swing at Caddick and was bowled. As Ambrose turned to walk, it appeared that Caddick gave him a send off by rolling his hands one over the other. This is NOT the type of thing you do to the Big Man. Kenny Benjamin joined Chanderpaul and (probably on instructions) Chanderpaul began playing a few more shots. He reached his 50 with an elegant cover drive for 4. Another left hander in the commentary box (Gower) could find no fault with that shot. It was, as Holding put it, the classic left hander's offdrive. This was an innnings of sheer determination and this young man demonstrated MATURITY well BEYOND his years. He fell going for a hook off Caddick, did not middle it and the ball lobbed to Fraser at long leg, who took a well judged catch. It was a fine innings by young Chanderpaul. It RESTORED the balance in the game and gave the WI a fighting chance. KBenjamin and Walsh added 2 runs before Walsh was lbw to Lewis for 1, with the WI all out for 269 giving England a reasonable target of 194 to win. From the "WI's Youngest Gun", the baton (or was it the ball?) was passed to the "WI's Fastest Gun" and, boy, what a show the Big Man put on!! He had Atherton plumb lbw FIRST BALL. Atherton was beaten for both pace and movement In came Ramprakash and he flicked Ambrose to fine leg. It looked like 2 all the way but in a horrendous mixup, Ramprakash (1) was runout. When was the last time you saw the #4 batsman coming in and the 1st over is STILL NOT FINISHED? Smith (0) was comprehensively bowled leg stump by Ambrose, the ball passing between bat and pad. Hick came in to face his OLD NEMESIS and there was almost ANOTHER runout as Hick tried to get away from Ambrose. Only thing is Arthurton failed to gather the ball. Well, Hick could run but could not hide from Ambrose - that's Dr. Ambrose for he certainly HAS the MEDICATION for Hick and probably all the England batsmen. Hick got one from the "Doctor" that left him and could only touch it to Murray. He made 6. Thorpe joined Stewart and it was not long before Stewart was bowled by the Big Man for 18. In a somewhat surprising move, Salisbury came in but he did not last long, snicking one from Walsh to Lara at first slip. Russell joined Thorpe and he was struck a painful blow on the wrist by a wicked delivery from Ambrose. It was one of fearsome pace and it lifted sharply and before Russell could get out of the way he was hit. He was out NEXT BALL caught by Simmons (fielding sub for Haynes) off Ambrose. Russell made 4. Lewis came in and it looked like England would end the day at 40 for 7 but Ambrose had other ideas. He bowled Thorpe with the 5th ball of the over knocking back his off stump. So England, who started the day with hopes VERY HIGH, ended the day with their innings IN RUINS as Ambrose RIPPED THE HEART OUT the England batting. They finished the day on 40 for 8 (no, that's not a typo!!) and 194 looks JUST TOO FAR OFF. Ambrose finished with the figures of 7.5 overs, 1 maiden, 22 runs and 6 wickets! As an English friend of mine said, England's lowest score of 45 is IN DANGER! But it's NOT OVER YET. There are 2 wickets to fall and tomorrow is ANOTHER DAY. Contributed by Cliff.Shivcharan (charan@bnr.ca) ====> Day 5, 30 Mar 94 It took a mere 4 overs and 2 balls for the WI to wrap up the 3rd C&W Test played at the Queen's Park Oval and take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the 5 test series. The day began in BRIGHT SUNSHINE and put paid to any hopes of the weather intervening. Ambrose bowled the last ball of his unfinished over and the question that remained to be answered was whether England would be dismissed for their lowest score EVER in test cricket. Caddick and Lewis took the score to 45 (equalling England's lowest score) when Caddick edged Walsh to Lara at first slip. 45 for 9. In Ambrose's next over, Lewis got a single and a CHEER greeted the run as the scare of being dismissed for 45 was passed. However, Lewis hooked Walsh's first ball of the next over and was caught at deep backward square-leg by WBenjamin and it was ALL OVER, with WI winning by 147 runs. Curtley Ambrose, to the surprise of NO ONE, was named Man-of-the- Match. The England 2nd Innings took ALL OF 19.1 overs!!! With the exception of Stewart, no other batsman reached DOUBLE figures. In fact apart from that 18, the scorecard reads like a phone number: 0 1 0 6 3 0 4 6 1 0 ! What I saw in England's 2nd innings was the 2nd MOST devastating and lethal spell of GENUINE fast bowling in the past 13 months. At Perth (about 13 mths ago) it was Ambrose, once again, who almost single-handedly demolished Austrailia with a spell of 7 wkts. for 1 run!! Ritchie Benaud described that as the BEST spell he has seen and he has been around for quite a while and must have played against some of the best in his time. So the action shifts to the Kensington Oval, Barbados where the 4th Test begins on April 8th. Contributed by Cliff.Shivcharan (charan@bnr.ca) ====> Day 5, MORE Derision greets England defeat - By Alan Lee They sang ''Abide with me'' here yesterday but there was neither respect nor anticipation in the voices, only derision. A sparse crowd, gathered together for the ritual end of an extraordinary Test match, held up placards as they sang. They bore the mocking initials RIP. It is not new to hear mourning for the end of English cricket as we know it. It seems to happen several times a year. But with the scoreboard still showing the evidence of an all-out total of 46, one run more than the lowest England score in history, it was hard to be sanguine about the chances of recovery, hard to be- lieve that the English game has often sunk to such depths. Atherton, the captain, described the loss of eight wickets in 15 overs on Tuesday evening. ''If you had been in the dressing-room you would have seen some devastated guys. I didn't say anything to them. It was neither the time nor the place ... and there wasn't a hell of a lot that could be said.'' For Atherton's team, the tour effectively ended in that session and the awareness was all the more painful for the fact that vic- tory had been so attainable. It was an evening for introspection and embarrassment, for averting the eyes when a player came into view. It might have been so different. ''We played well for three days,'' Atherton said in his calm and philosophical way. Only 17 minutes of play were necessary yesterday. The last two wickets, those of Caddick and Lewis, fell to Walsh but, quite properly, it was Curtly Ambrose who was chaired off the field, gold chains flapping round his neck, vast grin decorating his face. It was Ambrose who had decided the game, Ambrose who demol- ished England's fond hopes of going to Barbados next week only one down in the series. He has taken 19 wickets in two Tests now but will struggle to do anything further to compare with his six for 22 in that crazy, chaotic hour. ''He had an ideal situation, a short session, and he came steaming in,'' Atherton said. temperament and technique to cope. But we weren't.'' Ambrose is the obvious difference between the teams, for England have nobody who comes within a mile of his ability. But there are other, more profound differences which should concern the touring team as they fly to Grenada today, trying to focus on ambitions more positive than going home. In each game of the series so far, England have created a com- manding position and squandered it. Where West Indies raise their game under pressure, England's simply falls apart. They are short not only of technical excellence but of mental resilience and self-belief. It is difficult, in the maudlin climate, to be sure which is causing them the greatest distress. This defeat, by 147 of the 194 runs they set out to chase on Tuesday, was the latest and most devastating in a sequence of humiliations for England, after the 3-0 loss in India last winter, the embarrassing reversal against Sri Lanka and a 4-1 Ashes defeat. Now, this series is lost with two games still to play. The worst of it is that there is no end in sight. Lad- brokes offer even money on West Indies winning 5-0 and it is a price which may not last too long. Scapegoats are routinely sought in such situations. Last summer, Graham Gooch perished, closely followed by Ted Dexter. Of that regime, only Keith Fletcher, the team manager, remains in office. He shares the frustrations often expressed by Gooch and Dexter about the English system and approach. Whether he will share their fate remains to be seen. Fletcher's record is unenviable. Of the 13 Tests since he took charge, England have lost 11 and the outlook is bleaker now than for some years. There will be pressure for him to go, though with a five-year contract he would be an expensive man to dismiss. Logically, the blame for England's plight lies else- where, and it is a blame too broad even to be laid squarely on the players. With that said, there is deep disappointment in the party. Some have done themselves scant justice, none more so than Robin Smith, who seems unable to cope, for the first time, with the ex- pectations that accompany being the senior batsman. In six Test innings he has totalled 122 runs and looks no more convincing against pace than he did, for a year, against spin. He may even have to be dropped in Barbados. There, England will be watched by upwards of 4,000 British tour- ists, who booked their holidays anticipating they would be seeing the climax of a sporting contest. What they will be seeing in- stead is an insatiable West Indies side seeking a third clean sweep in a decade against England. Richie Richardson, the captain, expressed no surprise at the ease with which the series has been won. He admitted to an error in choosing to bat first here phrase. ''We never gave them a chance against us,'' he said. (Thanks : The Times) Contributed by Vicky (VIGNESWA@*umass.edu)