The Hindu : England well placed

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 23, 2004

Sport

Sport - Cricket

England well placed

By Ted Corbett

West Indies: 208
England: 300 for six

PORT OF SPAIN, MARCH 21. All the signs of defeat are around the West Indies at the moment.

It is getting the rough edge of the umpires' decisions, its players find unusual ways to get out - particularly run out - its star bowler Fidel Edwards is injured and the umpires ended play for bad light on Sunday at Queen's Park Oval even though Brian Lara made it perfectly clear he wanted to stay.

So it is that England is 92 ahead with four first innings wickets left at the end of the third day of the second Test against West Indies; an impregnable position many captains would think. It is all down to the engine room of the England batting line-up: Mark Butcher, Nasser Hussain and Graham Thorpe.

On a battlefield Butcher and Hussain would certainly be mentioned in despatches. They batted against a West Indies attack that was determined to prove that it wanted nothing to be remembered of the dreadful events in Jamaica and which saw that it had all day to swing the game its way.

To be fair to a quartet of pacemen who have been unfairly criticised, they bowled a number of balls that would have wickets against lesser men, catches went astray and the umpires were unsympathetic.

But the most important factor telling against them was the stout-hearted defence of Hussain and Butcher. Here were two seasoned campaigners and I hope you excuse me if I add that by the time they were both out - for fifties as they had been in Jamaica where their stand won the match - they were peppered as well.

I thought that the West Indies bowled with an intensity that it lacked at Sabina Park for all the speed Edwards brought along and Brian Lara, who is as under as much pressure as any captain deserves to be, handled them with flair.

The pair was equal to anything thrown at it even though Hussain made only 22 before lunch, Butcher 36 and only 69 were added in the two and a half hours. It was important that they were still there at the interval but Butcher was out soon afterwards, caught if that is the right word off a ball he did not touch. Surely it is time the third umpire was allowed to intervene in such cases. Not for the first time we have the mores of the 18th century controlling the game of the 21st. It is simply wrong.

Hussain was bowled by Tino Best with the new ball but by then England was in sight of a lead and an innings at a run a ball by Andrew Flintoff was just the tonic it needed after the surgery performed by Hussain and Butcher. When he was out, caught and bowled by Dwayne Smith, the new great all-rounder according to those who saw him open up in South Africa and Chris Read had been trapped lbw, Thorpe found an unexpected partner in Ashley Giles, who may not be the new Ian Botham but who knows a tired and dispirited attack when he sees one.

Thorpe, another veteran professional, saw a century for the asking and decided to take advantage of the situation created by Butcher and Hussain. There is no greater exponent of the dab, the nudge and the push of his legs than Thorpe and this position was made for him. Between them they took England to 300 when darkness closed in.

The umpires looked once or twice before taking the players off, to Lara's annoyance. "We are playing this one by the book," one was heard to say and who can blame them.

But all is not lost for West Indies. It is widely said around the Test circuit that Lara, who has made two noughts and a 23 in this series so far, is at his most brilliant when he feels someone has been rude or that his good nature has been turned against him. He is bound to come good at least once in the next two and a half Tests and Monday, in front of his own people, who have been imploring him to make runs since this Test began, might just be that occasion.

Defeat? We might even see a West Indies victory.

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