DERBY, England, CMC:FIDEL EDWARDS completed his first 10-wicket match haul in first-class cricket in bowling West Indies to a crushing 315-run victory over Derbyshire 20 minutes before tea on the final day of their three-day match yesterday.
Repeating the fearsome pace and hostility of the first innings, but to even more devastating effect, the 22-year-old fast bowler ripped through the home team's batting line-up in claiming five for 22, lifting his match analysis to ten for 83, as the hosts, set the unlikely target of 404, were routed for just 88.
CONFIRMED A RECALL
In rediscovering the rhythm that is so important to his success as a bowler, Edwards has all but confirmed a recall for this week's third Test against England at Old Trafford.
The squad left for Manchester immediately after the match with its spirit's lifted, particularly after a horrendous batting display on the first day, and with the additional encouragement of Dave Mohammed offering them another spinning option on a pitch that is forecasted to favour the slow bowlers once again. After claiming three scalps in the first innings, Mohammed troubled all the batsmen he bowled to the second time around, picking up two wickets and having three catches dropped off his bowling.
Derbyshire would have only been thinking of survival when Ramnaresh Sarwan declared the West Indies second innings at 368 for six after just over an hour of the morning session.
In that time, Carlton Baugh, Jr., and Ridley Jacobs smashed another 75 runs, Baugh finishing unbeaten on 150 off 182 balls with 13 fours and four sixes, while Jacobs contributed an unbeaten 59 to an unbroken seventh-wicket partnership of 151.
PREVIOUS BEST
That effort eclipsed the previous West Indian seventh-wicket record against Derbyshire, established by the legendary George Headley and Ben Sealy as long ago as 1933 on the Caribbean side's second Test tour of England.
While under no illusions about the enormity of the challenge facing them against England who are pushing for a clean sweep of the four-Test series and the comparative lack of fight from Derbyshire on the last day, the visitors can take heart from the fact that Edwards, Mohammed and Baugh have put pressure on the incumbents for a place in the final XI for the third Test.
The home side did not help their cause with two senseless run outs among their first four dismissals with just 15 runs on the scoreboard. Indeed, their overall effort prompted coach Dave Houghton, the former Zimbabwean captain, to condemn Derby-shire's performance on the last two days of the match as "pathetic".
REVERSED ROLES
As he noted, it was almost as if the sides had reversed roles after the opening day when the West Indies certainly did not seem to have their hearts, minds or any other parts of their anatomies in the game.
With survival to lunch as their only realistic objective, Steve Stubbings was run out by Dwayne Bravo's direct hit at the bowler's end from mid-wicket, after the left-hander was sent back by Andrew Gait, his opening partner, who was then promptly trapped lbw to Edwards, as the fast bowler wasted little time in getting up to full steam.
Scoreboard
West Indies first innings 223
Derbyshire first innings 188
West Indies second innings
(Resumed at 293-6)
C. Baugh not out 150
R. Jacobs not out 59
Extras (b5, lb6, w2, nb6) 19
TOTAL (for six wkts dec.) 368
Fall: 1-41, 2-80, 3-82, 4-178, 5-199, 6-217.
Bowling: Havell 16-2-56-0, Walker 8-1-49-0, Gunter 12-1-58-0, Paget 17-1-63-3, Dumelow 28-5-131-2.
Derbyshire second innings
A. Gait lbw Edwards 2
S. Stubbings run out 5
H. Adnan lbw Edwards 6
S. Selwood run out 0
J. Bryant c Baugh b Edwards 2
L. Sutton lbw Edwards 27
N. Dumelow lbw D.R. Smith 12
N. Gunter st Baugh b Mohammed 10
N. Walker c Joseph b Mohammed 13
P. Havell b Edwards 1
C. Paget not out 0
Extras (b4, lb4, nb2) 10
TOTAL (all out) 88
Fall: 1-7, 2-8, 3-13, 4-15, 5-16, 6-42, 7-69, 8-85, 9-87.
Bowling: Edwards 8.3-2-22-5, D.R. Smith 9-4-16-1, Gayle 7-1-20-0, Mohammed 11-2-22-2.
