Rain foils England and West Indies plans

Sunday, March 21, 2004

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (AFP): Unseasonal rain washed away a huge chunk of play and put a dent in the plans of England and West Indies to make meaningful headway on the second day of the second Test at Queen's Park Oval on Saturday.

Nearly 4-1/2 hours of revised playing time was lost to bad weather and slowed down the progress of the two sides as England reached 54 for two, replying to West Indies' first innings total of 208, when the second rain stoppage of the day prompted an early close. 

Former England captain Nasser Hussain, with 20 not out, and left-hander Mark Butcher, with 25 not out, added 46 for the third wicket to steady the innings, after the early departure of skipper Michael Vaughan and opening partner Marcus Trescothick.

West Indies gained early success when Vaughan was deceived by an inswinging delivery from Pedro Collins and was adjudged lbw for nought in the third over of the innings.

Trescothick continued his wretched form on his first tour of the Caribbean when he miscued a hook at a short delivery from Tino Best and was caught at square leg by Adam Sanford for one to leave England eight for two when the first stoppage that lasted over three hours occurred.

Both sides would have suffered from the lost time. 

England looking for a win that would secure a 2-0 lead in the four-Test series were denied the chance of making progress and, possibly, ending the day with a reasonable lead.

England coach Duncan Fletcher was more concerned about the state of the pitch, however, and was unwilling to predict what would happen over the next three days.

"We'll have to wait and see how the pitch plays to determine what the outcome for this match will be," Fletcher said.

"This is the second day of the Test match and the pitch is playing a little unpredictably and this will make scoring difficult. We would have expected it to play that way on the fourth and fifth days, but it has not been easy."

The long break for rain also meant that the momentum West Indies had gained from removing Vaughan and Trescothick would have been lost, as well as the hardness and sheen of ball on the wet, mucky outfield. 

Trescothick had failed to make use of two reprieves before he had scored. 

Television replays showed umpire Billy Bowden had dubiously ruled in his favour when the left-hander gloved a ball from Best to wicketkeeper Ridley Jacobs down the leg-side, before Trescothick sliced a sharp, low chance to Dwayne Smith at gully a few balls later off the same bowler where the ball was dropped. 

Fletcher is not too concerned though about the form of his two principal opening batsmen who have been dismissed cheaply in the first innings of both Tests.

"There is no doubt we have had some very good platforms to build from in the past, but it cannot always continue that way or else it would be a very easy game to play," he said.

"At this stage, they have struggled a little bit, but they have been there before and they have always come good. Both have Test averages in the 40s. As world-class batsmen, they'll be very proud to have those figures.

"They are just going through a bit of a period in which they have received some good balls and that's it."

Earlier, England needed about half-hour to complete their demolition of the West Indies' first innings that continued from the overnight position of 189 for eight with Steve Harmison ending with six wickets for 61 runs from 20.1 overs to take his tally of wickets in the series to 15.

Jacobs succeeded in running himself out for a useful 40. When going for a third run, he was beaten by Ashley Giles' throw from near the cover boundary to wicketkeeper Chris Read before Harmison bowled Collins for 10 to bring an end to the innings.

England, bidding to end a 36-year wait for a Test series victory over West Indies in the Caribbean, won the opening Test at Kingston by 10 wickets.

Scoreboard at stumps after the rain-affected second day of the second Test:

West Indies 1st Innings
C. Gayle c Read b Harmison 62
D. Smith lbw b Harmison 35
R. Sarwan c Flintoff b Harmison 21
B. Lara c Giles b Harmison 0
S. Chanderpaul c Read b Jones 2
D. Smith c Hussain b Harmison 16
R. Jacobs run out 40
T. Best c Read b Hoggard 1
A. Sanford run out 1 
P. Collins b Harmison 10 
C. Collymore not out 3
Extras (lb7, w6, nb4) 17
Total (all out, 60.1 overs) 208

Fall of wickets: 1-100, 2-110, 3-110, 4-113, 5-142, 6-143, 7-148, 8-165, 9-2-2, 10-208
Bowling: Hoggard 15-3-38-1 (nb1); Harmison 20.1-5-61-6 (1nb); Flintoff 10-3-38-0 (nb2, w1); Giles 3-0-20-0; Jones 12-2-44-1 (w1)

England 1st innings 
M. Trescothick c Sanford b Best 1
M. Vaughan lbw b Collins 0
M. Butcher not out 25
N. Hussain not out 20 
Extras (lb6, nb2) 8
Total (2 wkts, 24.2 overs) 54

Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-8
Bowling: Collins 9-5-15-1 (2nb), Best 6-2-15-1, Sanford 6-3-17-0, Collymore 3.2-2-1-0
To Bat: G. Thorpe, A. Flintoff, C. Read, A. Giles, M. Hoggard, S. Jones, S. Harmison.
Toss: West Indies
Umpires: D. Harper, B. Bowden (TV Replays: E. Nicholls)
Match Referee: M. Procter.

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