Lara leads West Indies fight back

Sunday, April 11, 2004

ST. JOHN'S, Antigua (AFP): Brian Lara, using the easy nature of the Antigua Recreation Ground pitch, was within sight of his 25th Test hundred as West Indies enjoyed their best day with the bat against England on the rain-affected opening day of the fourth and final Test here on Saturday.

Looking like a true world class act for the first time in the series, the West Indies captain was undefeated on 86 to lift West Indies to 208 for two when bad light stopped play.

West Indies vice-captain Ramnaresh Sarwan was not out on 41 and has shared an unbroken stand of 110 with Lara for the third wicket to add substance and stability to the wobbly batting.

With England's bowlers emasculated by the friendly nature of the pitch and not benefitting from the same appreciable bounce and movement they gained in the three previous Tests at Kingston, Port of Spain and Bridgetown, West Indies bullied their way to a confident position at the close.

Chris Gayle had earlier set the tempo for West Indies with a pulsating 69 that included a dozen boundaries from 80 balls in two hours.

"The wicket here is really flat so we are looking at over 400 runs," said Gayle.

"I felt good out there. I started well but got out just before lunch and wasn't able to carry on. But it's gone now and I will move on."

He became one of the wickets to fall in the morning period to leave West Indies 98 for two at lunch before rain delayed a resumption of hostilities for three hours.

Choosing to bat, West Indies saw Gayle and opening partner Daren Ganga bat through a testing first hour before Andrew Flintoff made the breakthrough.

Ganga, playing back instead of forward to a pitched-up delivery, was adjudged lbw for 10 to leave West Indies 33 for one.

Gayle and Lara added 65 for the second wicket when West Indies before the opening batsman drove back a return catch to off-spin bowler Gareth Batty off the penultimate ball before the interval.

Not a ball was bowled between lunch and tea. Rain during and after the interval prevented any play in the afternoon period.

Umpires Darrell Hair of Australia and Aleem Dar of Pakistan made several inspections before deciding to extend play by an hour and giving England 30 overs before the close.

Lara and Sarwan diligently negotiated 22 of them without little incident. The only thing that looked likely to separate them was when Sarwan copped a blow in the groin off a delivery from Batty and was floored for several minutes.

West Indies, looking to avoid an unprecedented Test series clean sweep on home soil, made one change, bringing in Ricardo Powell for his first Test in four years to replace experienced left-hander Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who was left out of the squad for health reasons earlier in the week.

England too, have made changes to their line-up that won the third Test at Bridgetown to take a 3-0 lead in the four-Test series. Geraint Jones makes his Test debut in replacing fellow wicketkeeper/batsman Chris Read, and Batty is in for ill fellow spin bowler Ashley Giles.

Scoreboard after the opening day of the fourth and final Test:

West Indies 1st Innings
C. Gayle c and b Batty 69
D. Ganga lbw b Flintoff 10
B. Lara not out 86
R. Sarwan not out 41
Extras (lb1, nb1) 2
Total (2 wkts) 208

Fall of wickets: 1-33, 2-98
Bowling: Hoggard 9-2-32-0 (nb1); Harmison 14-3-42-0; Flintoff 13-2-45-1; S. Jones 8-0-57-1; Batty 8-0-31-1
Overs: 52 overs
To bat: R. Powell, R. Hinds, R. Jacobs, T. Best, P. Collins, C. Collymore, F. Edwards

England: M. Trecothick, M. Vaughan, M. Butcher, N. Hussain, G. Thorpe, A. Flintoff, G. Jones, G. Batty, M. Hoggard, S. Jones, S. Harmison.

Toss: West Indies.
Umpires: D. Hair, Aleem Dar
TV Replays: B. Doctrove, Reserve: C. Mack.
Match Referee: M. Procter.

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