By Tony Becca, Senior Sport Editor
LONDON: West Indies celebrate England batsman Craig White being run out for 27 runs during the second Test at Lord's yesterday. From left Shivnarine Chanderpaul, James Adams, Wavell Hinds, Brian Lara and Ridley Jacobs.
LONDON -
THE second Test between the West Indies and England at Lord's is heading for an early finish. In fact, barring rain, it is destined to end some time today.
The question, however, is who will be the winners.
On yesterday's drama-packed second day of the 100th Test match at headquarters, 21 wickets tumbled for 188 runs in 76.2 overs, at stumps the scoreboard read, West Indies 267 and 54, England 134 and zero without loss, and with the home team needing 188 to win with all 10 wickets in hand, it is anybody's guess who will be the toast of St. John's Wood when it is all over.
Based on a devilish pitch and weather conditions conducive to pace bowling, however, the West Indies, winners of the first Test at Edgbaston by an innings and 93 runs, are favourites to pull it off and a take a commanding two-nil lead.
If cricket is a batsman's game, it certainly was not so at Lord's yesterday where the West Indies, resuming on 267 for nine, routed England for their lowest score against the tourists at Lord's and where, before their fans had even stopped celebrating, they were destroyed for their lowest score any where against England.
On a cold, dark day the ball cut and reared off the seam alarmingly, it swung through the air appreciably, and with the fast bowlers on either side revelling in the conditions, it was sheer hell for the batsmen.
With the batsmen, starting with Andy Caddick's first ball dismissal of Courtney Walsh, falling like lambs to the slaughter, the West Indies, powered by what, at the time, appeared an awesome performance by Curtly Ambrose and Walsh, blasted out England in 48.2 overs with Ambrose finishing with four for 30 off 14.2 overs and Walsh four for 43 off 17.
At that stage, with the match also marking the 50th anniversary of their historic victory on the famous ground in 1950 - their first in England, with the lead 133, the Windies appeared set for a wonderful celebration.
In a glorious ambush, however, England, led by pacers Caddick with five for 16 off 13 overs, Darren Gough with two for 17 off eight, and Dominic Cork with three for 13 off 5.4, shot them down in 128 minutes and 26.4 overs.
So sudden, so furious was the attack that the surprised West Indies batsmen hardly even got off a shot.
In an innings during which only Ridley Jacobs, thanks to a lucky break when he was dropped at zero by Nick Knight off Gough, survived to reach double figures, there were only 24 scoring strokes by the West Indians who, at 41 for nine, were in danger of falling below their previous lowest scores - 53 against Pakistan at Faislabad in 1986 and 51 against Australia in Port of Spain in 1999.
Unlike summers gone by when they complained of brute force and intimidation while surrendering to a generation of West Indies speed merchants headed by the likes of Andy Roberts, Michael Holding and the late Malcolm Marshall, England's batsmen had no such excuse yesterday.
At age 36 and 37 respectively, speed, terrifying speed, is a distant memory for Ambrose and Walsh. The venerable fast bowlers have always been skilled exponents of the art, however, with a total of 214 Test matches between them they are brimming with experience, and that was the double-edged weapon which they used to cut down the cream of England's batsmen.
In strolling to a combined 854 wickets between them - 393 for Ambrose and the world's best 461 for Walsh, the twin towers of the West Indies attack were, however, aided and abetted by a set of batsmen who were, as they have been in recent years, technically weak and lacking in courage.
With Ambrose and Walsh ripping into them with a vengeance, England were on the run at one for two at the end of the second over, there were nine for three in the eighth, and it was no surprise when they crashed to their lowest score at Lord's against the West Indies since that historic match in June 1950 when Sonny Ramadhin, five for 65, and Alfred Valentine, four for 48, nailed them for 151 in the first innings.
Unlike England's batsmen, the West Indians did not flinch. Despite the pitch, however, they too were found wanting where technique was concerned, and with Gough bowling fast, really fast, and Caddick getting the ball to cut off the seam and to bounce awkwardly, they were like sittings ducks.
At 10 for three in the ninth over, it looked bad, but at that stage Brian Lara and Shivnarine Chanderpaul were standing in the breach and looking fairly solid.
Caddick, however, made it 24 for four when he sent Lara packing - caught by Cork at gully, and when, without another run on the board, Gough forced Chanderpaul to push a kicking delivery out of his ribs and into the hands of Mark Ramprakash at short leg, the West Indies were really on the run.
SCOREBOARD
WI first innings
(overnight 267-9)
R.King not out 12
C.Walsh lbw b Caddick 1
Extras (b-1, lb-8, w-2, nb-2) 13
Total 267
Fall of wickets: 1-80, 2-162, 3-175, 4-185, 5-186, 6-207, 7-216, 8-253, 9-258
Bowling: Gough 21-5-72-4, Caddick 20.3-3-58-1, Hoggard 13-3-49-0, Cork 24-8-39-4, White 8-1-30-0, Vaughan 3-1-10-0
England first innings
M.Atherton c Lara b Walsh 1
M.Ramprakash c Lara b Ambrose 0
M.Vaughan b Ambrose 4
G.Hick b Ambrose 25
A.Stewart c Jacobs b Walsh 28
N.Knight c Campbell b King 6
C.White run out 27
D.Cork c Jacobs b Walsh 4
A.Caddick c Campbell b Walsh 6
D.Gough c Lara b Ambrose 13
M.Hoggard not out 12
Extras (lb-5 nb-3 )8
Total 134
Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-1, 3-9, 4-37, 5-50, 6-85, 7-100, 8-100, 9-118
Bowling: Ambrose 14.2-6-30-4, Walsh 17-6-43-4, Rose 7-2-32-0, King 10-3-24-1
WI second innings
S.Campbell c Gough b Caddick 4
A.Griffith c Stewart b Gough 1
W.Hinds c Ramprakash b Caddick 0
B.Lara c Cork b Caddick 5
S.Chanderpaul c Ramprakash b Gough 9
J.Adams lbw b Cork 3
R.Jacobs c Atherton b Caddick 12
C.Ambrose c Ramprakash b Caddick 0
F.Rose c and b Cork 1
R.King lbw b Cork 7
C.Walsh not out3
Extras (lb-8, nb-1) 9
Total 54
Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-6, 3-10, 4-24, 5-24, 6-39, 7-39, 8-39, 9-41
Bowling: Gough 8-3-17-2, Caddick 13-8-16-5, Cork 5.4-2-13-3
England second innings
M.Atherton not out 0
M.Ramprakash not out 0
Extras 0
Total (for no wicket) 0
Bowling: Ambrose 1-1-0-0, Walsh 0.1-0-0-0
