
England pace bowler Darren Gough celebrates taking the wicket of West Indies Brian Lara for two on the second day of the fourth Test at Headingley yesterday. . LEEDS, August 18: THE West Indies hit rock bottom at Headingley yesterday when they lost the fourth Test to England by an innings and 39 runs on the second day to go one-two down in the five-match contest.
In a performance so disappointing that the few West Indians on the ground were long gone before the final rites, the West Indies, trailing by 100 runs on first innings, were blown away for 61 in 126 minutes and 26.2 overs and became the first team to lose a Test match in two days since Australia, 199 for eight declared, nailed New Zealand, 42 and 54, by an innings and 103 at Wellington in 1945-46.
Final score, West Indies 177 and 61, England 277.
In winning the Test match, England not only chalked up their first two-day victory at home since 1912 when they knocked off South Africa by 10 wickets at The Oval, not only earned sweet revenge for their defeat at Edgbaston in 1995 when they were beaten before lunch on the third day, but more importantly, in ticking off their first innings victory over the tourists since 1966 at The Oval they also jumped into the lead and left themselves in a wonderful position from which to win their first series against the West Indies since their two-nil triumph 31 years ago in 1969.
Was it the pitch?
"No," said West Indies captain James Adams. "This was only the second day of the match. England bowled well. All credit to them."
It certainly was not the pitch, and fast bowler Darren Gough who sent the West Indies reeling at 11 for three and 21 for four with an opening burst of four for 12 off six overs, and fast bowler Andy Caddick who knocked them flat in a second spell during which he grabbed five wickets for five runs in 15 deliveries - including four in one sensational over, bowled magnificently.
England's quick and easy victory, however, was not due to the ability of Gough and Caddick to cut the ball off the seam, to swing it through the air and to pitch where they wanted. It was also due to another embarrassing batting performance by the West Indies batsmen who were once again, for the second time in two days, found wanting in technique and temperament.
With 47 overs left to the end of the day's play when the West Indies started their second innings, with the third, fourth and fifth days in the scheduled five-day contest to come, the innings was only two overs old and the score only three when left-hander Adrian Griffith drove at Gough, missed the swinging delivery, and was bowled offstump.
Next ball, Wavell Hinds, after easing forward tentatively, was gone leg before wicket; two overs later, star batsman Brian Lara, shouldering arms as he did in the first innings to Craig White, was on the way - leg before wicket to Gough for two at 11 for three; and at tea, it was 23 for four with Sherwin Campbell gone for 12 - the right-hander playing back to Gough and edging a low catch to second slip where Graeme Hick came up with a lovely catch.
At that stage, Headingley was rocking, but no one believed that in 90 minutes and 14.2 overs it would have been all over - especially when Ramnaresh Sarwan, not out 59 in the first innings and not out 17 in the second, hooked Gough sweetly to the square-leg boundary.
Sarwan and Adams, however, represented the last of the specialist batsmen, there was a fear that it could happen, and when, as White had done in the first innings, Dominic Cork bowled Adams off the inside edge for 19 at 49 for five 56 minutes after the interval, with 27 overs to go it was all over bar the shouting.
With Caddick stepping up and ripping out Ridley Jacobs, Nixon McLean, Curtley Ambrose, and Reon King in an over which included a no-ball, with last man Courtney Walsh swinging at the accurate pacer and hitting nothing, the West Indies lost their last six wickets for 12 runs in 34 minutes and 6.2 overs.
On a dark day for West Indies cricket, the batting was only a part of the embarrassment. The West Indies fielding and their bowling were just as disappointing.
With England resuming on 105 for five after the batting debacle of the first day, the match, as a contest, was nicely poised and with the series balanced on one-one, a full house was on spot to witness what was expected to have been a battle royal for the upper hand in the match which many believe will decide the winners of the series.
While England, led by Michael Vaughan, who stroked a career-best 76, and Hick, who cracked a lovely 59, rose to the occasion, the West Indies, but for Walsh and Ambrose who finished the England innings with four for 51 and four for 42 respectively, but for Adams who tried his best with some tidy left-arm spin, were embarrassing with the ball and in the field where balls went through their legs, the throwing was atrocious, and where Griffith at cover slipped and fell time and time again and Hinds at square-leg dropped a catch which will haunt him for a long time.
By Tony Becca
Senior Sport Editor