Tame draw at the Oval

Tony Becca,Senior Sport Editor

THE second Test of the 2000 Cable & Wireless series between the West Indies and Pakistan ended in a tame, disappointing draw at Kensington Oval yesterday.

Set a victory target of 275 in 57 overs after Pakistan had delayed their declaration until 11 minutes after lunch, the West Indies lost three early wickets before Wavell Hinds - 52 off 112 deliveries in 148 minutes, and captain James Adams - 34 not out off 115 deliveries in 137 minutes, batted them to safety.

After four days during which the pendulum swayed from side to side before coming to a halt in the neutral position, play got under way yesterday morning with the contest nicely poised, the match wide open and up for grabs, any of three results possible, and the stage set for a thrilling climax - probably even a nail-biting finish.

With Pakistan leading by 200 with three wickets in hand, it could end in a draw, Pakistan could win, and although the odds were against them, the West Indies could win.

Long before umpires Eddie Nichols and Rudi Koertzen took off the bails for the last time with five overs to go and the scoreboard reading Pakistan 253 and 419 for nine declared, the West Indies 398 and 132 for four, it was, however, dead and buried as a draw.

But for the first 65 minutes of the West Indies second innings when the home team lost three wickets and appeared ready to surrender, neither team looked like winning, and based on their approach, it was not because they did not want to win but because they were afraid of losing.

On a day when "Big Fraid" met "Little Fraid", as Jamaicans would say, both teams probably missed a wonderful opportunity to win the match and definitely demonstrated a lack of confidence in their skills - Pakistan in their much vaunted bowling attack, and despite its performance in the first innings, the West Indies in their batting.

Although the odds were a bit against them at the start of the day's play, the West Indies had a chance, and they were expected to go out, try to remove Pakistan's last three wickets, and leave themselves enough time to go for victory.

In what can only be described as surprising tactics, however, both teams decided to kill time with Pakistan showing no interest in scoring runs, and the West Indies, with their bowlers, especially pacer Courtney Walsh, who bowled way outside the offstump, and left-arm spinner Adams, who bowled outside the leg stump, with the field set to contain rather than to take wickets, showing no interest in taking wickets.

On a day which promised so much but provided so little, a day when they were so afraid that they even went back to bat after lunch when, with the score on 407 for seven, they were already leading by 262 with only 61 overs remaining, Pakistan, ahead in the betting at the start of the action, or the non action, deserved to be the one labeled as "Big Fraid".

Starting the day on 345 for seven with Abdur Razzaq on 32 and Saqlain Mushtaq on two, Pakistan crawled through the first hour while adding 18 runs off 16 overs, batted two maiden overs to make it 18 from 18 after 70 minutes, and only attempted to get some runs in the final 30 minutes to lunch when they scored 39 runs off eight overs.

The declaration came after Pakistan had spent 131 minutes and 31 overs scoring 74 runs, after the West Indies had spent the same time bowling negatively, and at the start of the West Indies second innings, both teams probably felt vindicated for their defensive posture.

In the fourth over, Waqar Younis trapped Adrian Griffith leg before wicket for five at 15 for one; in the fifth, Wasim Akram made it 15 for two when Sherwin Campbell, eight, went back to nasty lifter and edged a simple catch to substitute Shahid Afridi at gully; and it was 41 for three in the 13th when, in Mushtaq Ahmed's first over, Shivnarine Chanderpaul chipped, nicked a well flighted delivery onto his pad, and was caught by Mohammad Wasim at silly mid-off for 16.

At that stage, there was a deadly silence in the cathedral of West Indies cricket, captain Moin Khan of Pakistan must have felt that he had enough time to run through the home team's batsmen, and West Indies captain Adams must have been disappointed that Pakistan had declared so early.

Hinds and Adams, however, played well, reeled off some lovely strokes, and with each one surviving a chance cutting at Saqlain, batted the West Indies to safety before, with only the final 15 overs to go and the match sentenced to a draw, Hinds cut at Mushtaq Ahmed and edged a catch to wicketkeeper Moin.

There was enough time, however, for Ramnaresh Sarwan to chip and drive Mushtaq Ahmed for a couple of boundaries in another demonstration of his skill against spin bowling.

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