Wisden
Second Test Match

West Indies v England

Until the bottle-throwing riot in mid-afternoon on the third day, England looked like winning comfortably. After the trouble, which necessitated 75 minutes' play being held over until a sixth day, they never regained their zest. In the end they struggled to avoid defeat in a final innings marked by strange umpiring.

They made the mistake of agreeing to resume after the trouble had been put down. It would have been wiser and fairer to the visiting players to abandon play for the day.

Again England lost only two wickets on the first day, when Edrich and Cowdrey repeated their feats of the Jamaican match. Already the pitch, criss-crossed by wide cracks, was fiery and sportive. Yet in their differing ways, Edrich, boldly pugnacious, and Cowdrey, studiously watchful, they overcame it, as only two other batsmen, Nurse and Sobers, were able to do subsequently. Edrich made 96 of the first 178 in 66 overs.

Cowdrey held the innings together for 96 overs and nearly six hours, a magnificent fighting innings in which he was stolidly helped by Barrington who batted for nearly four hours. The others went quickly to a combination of pace and spin.

So did the West Indies batsmen to the splendid fast bowling of Snow, who was ably supported by Brown and Jones. It was all over in 49 overs, and West Indies followed on 233 behind.

Though Nurse made a fine attempt to hit them out of trouble - 73 off only 34 overs - half the side were again out for 204 when Butcher's dismissal to a diving leg-side catch by Parks sparked the riot. Sobers meanwhile had been badly missed by D'Oliveira at second slip off Brown while Graveney was having a damaged finger repaired in the pavilion. Sobers was then 7.

Afterwards he played magnificently for more than six hours, and against a side upset by the rioting the later batsmen for once were able to give him the necessary support, despite the vagaries of the pitch.

Although the cracks steadily became wider there were surprisingly fewer shooters on the fifth than on the early days.

The last innings was played in a feverish atmosphere, which seemed to unsettle the umpires. Cowdrey was lbw off his bat, and in 42 minutes England were reduced to 19 for four. During the final 75 minutes on the extra day they barely held off the spin of Gibbs and Sobers.

© John Wisden & Co