Ambrose, Walsh and Rose WEST INDIES' arsenal in today's second Test will be pace and more pace.
England's batsmen will be attacked by four fast bowlers and as it was at Edgbaston, the 37-year-old Courtney Walsh, 36-year-old Curtly Ambrose and sidekicks, Reon King and Franklyn Rose should be too hot for them.
The one area in which the West Indies could be vulnerable is their batting especially with injury threatening to rob Shivnarine Chanderpaul of his first appearance at Lord's.
Chanderpaul is suffering from what has been described by the doctor as an acute strain in the right forearm. On Sunday he was advised to rest for one week. He attempted to bat in the nets on Tuesday and lasted only a few minutes. Yesterday he did not bat at all and manager Ricky Skerritt said although it will be up to Chanderpaul, chances were he would not make it.
If Chanderpaul fails to make it, Ramnaresh Sarwan, the 19-year-old who impressed against Pakistan in his first appearance last month, is expected to make his Lord's debut.
The injury to Chanderpaul is one of two problems facing the selectors. The other is who to send in with Sherwin Campbell at the start of the innings.
Based on their belief as to who is best suited for the job on observation since the first Test, it would not be surprising if the selectors called Adrian Griffith and omit Christopher Gayle.
England, however, are also suffering. With Nasser Hussain and Andrew Flintoff out of action, former captain Alec Stewart leads an England team which will see at least two changes from that which lost at Edgbaston.
Yorkshire opener
Mike Vaughan, the Yorkshire opener expected to bat at number three is in along with Dominic Cork, the Derbyshire fast bowler who celebrated his debut with seven for 43 against the West Indies at Lord's five years ago and who followed it up with a hat-trick at Old Trafford.
With the batting of both teams lacking in real quality, the Test match could go either way. The experts believe England have a good chance to win -- once the pitch is as good as it appears and they are blessed with typical English weather.
According to them, the West Indies pacers are not deadly on good pitches and England's bowlers could be difficult to handle if the condition favours swing.
The pitch certainly looks good. Although the sun was out in all its glory yesterday morning, it was cloudy and dark in the afternoon. There was a slight drizzle in the evening and the forecast is for normal English weather throughout the next few days.
Contrary to what the English experts believe, however, whatever is good for Darren Gough, Cork and company is good enough for the skilled and experienced Walsh and Ambrose. With ace batsman Brian Lara in their line-up, with a team spirit second to none, the West Indies should be too good for an England team whose batsmen appeared frightened of their own shadows at Edgbaston and died without a fight.
Lord's 2000 should produce an interesting battle but unless the gods frown on them, when it is over it should be the West Indies -- especially if they are inspired by the glorious deeds of 1950 when Allan Rae and Jeffrey Stollmeyer, Clyde Walcott and Gerry Gomez, Alfred Ramadhin and Sonny Valentine picked off the best of England to win by 326 runs.
Tony Becca
