- ReutersThe England slip cordon surrounds West Indian batsman Adrain Griffith as he plays a ball from Robert Croft during the Old Trafford Test match yesterday.
Tony Becca, Senior Sport Editor
Manchester:
FORTUNE, it is said, favours the brave, and, if that is so, the West Indies deserve some good luck in the third Test against England at Old Trafford.
They fought like tigers yesterday and left themselves with a chance of winning the match.
Going into the third day of the third Test, things looked gloomy for the West Indies. At stumps, however, the scoreboard read, West Indies 157 and 131-1 with Sherwin Campbell gone for a splendid 55, Adrian Griffith and Wavell Hinds not out on 41 and 20 respectively, England 303, and things were back to normal with the contest interestingly poised.
It is, in fact, better than normal.
Remembering the West Indies won the toss and bowled first because they did not want to bat last on a pitch which they believed would crumble and become too difficult for batting, that the West Indies are only 15 runs behind with nine wickets in hand, and that it will be England batting last against Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh, the West Indies should be pretty confident of going on to victory.
With England resuming on 196-3 and leading by 39 runs, with Alec Stewart on 105 and bidding to become the first player to score a double century in his 100th Test, with Marcus Trescothick on 65 and hunting a place among the illustrious few who have scored a century in their first Test innings, and with both batsmen in spanking form, the West Indies were expected to be on the ropes and reeling by the end of the day's play.
In a wonderful performance, however, the West Indies surprised even their most loyal fans as England lost their remaining seven wickets for 107 runs.
Stewart was cut down without adding to his overnight score, Trescothick managed only one more run, England's lead was a far from frightening 146, and with the bowlers handing them a glimmer of hope, the batsmen, represented by openers Campbell and Griffith, buckled down to the business of providing their team with a good start.
Once again, however, the West Indies owed their rally to their two champion bowlers - to Ambrose who, after his wicketless effort of the previous day, grabbed four wickets for 30 runs off 14 overs to move his tally to within two of becoming only the fourth bowler in the history of the game to reach the 400 mark, and to world record holder Walsh who added one to his three on the previous day to finish with innings figures of 4-50 off 27 overs.
Left with 48 overs to go in the day's play, it was testing time for Campbell and Griffith - especially for the left-handed Griffith, and probably inspired by the exploits of Ambrose and Walsh, they passed with flying colours after a jittery start.
In the first over, Gough beat Campbell with two good away swingers - on one occasion the ball passing so close to the outside edge of the right-hander's bat that the big Yorkshire man held his head in disappointment; and in the second over all the fielders went up for leg before appeal when Andy Caddick beat Griffith and rapped him on the front pad.
They settled in quickly, however, and with Campbell leading the way, they played some lovely strokes while posting 96 for the opening partnership before White, bowling round the wicket, got a ball to fly off a good length.
It a devil of a delivery - the ball flying towards Campbell's throat, bouncing off the handle of the bat, and ballooning out into the offside where Cork, racing in from backward point, took a low catch.
As Campbell walked away he shook his head in disappointment, and he deserved to have been disappointed. It was a wonderful innings which lasted for 155 minutes, for 101 deliveries and during which he stroked nine boundaries - the best being his trademark back foot square-cut off Cork just before tea, a front foot square-drive off Gough afterwards, and a flowing front foot drive, also off Gough, through extra-cover.
Griffith, who has so far batted for 202 minutes, faced 159 deliveries, and ticked off four boundaries, also reeled off some pleasing strokes. The best of his offerings were two lovely drives, off the front foot, through extra-cover off offspinner Robert Croft.
On a day when the best of the West Indies was on show, a day which may well lead to a memorable finish by the West Indies, Hinds sent the fans home in style.
The left-hander's scoring strokes - a drive off Cork through mid-wicket, a flick and a hook off White, two pulls off Gough - were all boundaries. They were like sparkling gems below the grey clouds hanging over the famous ground. They were strokes of a class batsman in the pink of form.
SCOREBOARD
West Indies first innings 157
England first innings
(Resumed at 196-3)
M. Trescothick b Walsh 66
A. Stewart c Jacobs b Ambrose 105
M. Vaughan c Lara b Ambrose 29
C. White b King 6
D. Cork c Jacobs b Ambrose 16
R. Croft not out 27
A. Caddick lbw Ambrose 3
D. Gough c Ambrose b King 12
Extras (b-10 lb-6 nb-12) 28
Total 303
Fall: 1-1 2-17 3-17 4-196 5-198 6-210 7-251 8-275 9-283
Bowling: Ambrose 27-7-70-4, Walsh 27-14-50-4, Rose 20-3-83-0, King 12.2-3-52-2, Adams 11-4-32-0.
West Indies second innings
S. Campbell c Cork b White 55
A. Griffith not out 41
W. Hinds not out 20
Extras (b-5 lb-2 w-2 nb-6) 15
Total (for one wicket) 131
Fall: 1-96
Bowling: Gough 11-2-45-0, Caddick 7-3-16-0, Cork 10-5-16-0, Croft 14-4-32-0, White 5-2-13-1, Trescothick 1-0-2-0.
