Ambrose, Walsh shell-shocked England

England needing 380 to win batting last on a worn dry pitch with the `top knocked off' at one end were never going to be on. What they didn'...

England needing 380 to win batting last on a worn dry pitch with the `top knocked off’ at one end were never going to be on. What they didn’t bargain for was a brutal assault by Ambrose and Walsh who blew away the top-order with fearsome fast bowling. On a lifeless pitch, Ambrose in particular got pace and lift from a good length. And there was Walsh charging in so that England’s batsmen had a torrid time.

Ambrose again did for captain Atherton with a big off-cutter that kept a bit low and thudded into his pads. Stewart was beaten by a Walsh nip back delivery while Ambrose hit Butcher on the forearm and nearly decapitated him a couple of times. Hussain mistakenly tried to hook Walsh. Thorpe was gloved hooking but not given out. Then he was dropped at slip and finally put out of his misery by Ambrose as he tucked one to leg gully. There were so many lbw shouts and playing and missing. It was great bowling and wonderful Test match cricket so long as you weren’t batting.

From then on it was a case of moppingup the rest. Ramprakash batted solidly and was the only batsman to try and get forward. He played the ball on its merit and didn’t worry about whether the pitch would misbehave. His judgment of length was `streets ahead’ of the other batsmen and it took a beauty from Walsh to get get rid of him, a leg cutter at a pace that hit one of the holes in the pitch. Hooper was able to fiddle wickets while England were shell-shocked with the thought and pressure of Walsh and Ambrose.

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When Brian Lara won the toss on the first morning it was obvious that batting first and batting well could be a decisive factor. Lara got his head down and played only one false stroke and that was his downfall, caught at covers on 92 off the off-spinner. Chanderpaul was dropped at slip on nine and finished the day with 100 not out. Hooper was dropped early on and because those errors were not punished, the West Indies had a stranglehold of the match by the end of the first day at 271 for three.

As usual for the West Indies, these daysa collapse is not far away. The next seven wickets went down for 57 runs to England’s spinners. Yet, 352 all out was a decent total for the West Indies bowlers. By close of play they had reduced England to 87 for six. England were wobbling and seriously in danger of following on. But next morning Lara inexplicably or naively didn’t bowl his best bowler Ambrose until after lunch. Ramprakash batted beautifully for 64 not out, putting on 30 runs with No 11 Tufnell to avoid the follow on but it was a missed opportunity for the West Indies.

A lead of 182 put the West Indies in a commanding position. But yet again there was a Caribbean collapse. Openers Williams and Campbell went quickly which was no surprise. Chanderpaul ran himself out first ball and only a couple of hard-earned 30s from Lara and Hooper `steadied the ship.’ With nerves jangling it was left to Bishop and Ramnarine to compile a West Indies record 10th wicket partnership of 70 to take the home team to 197 in the second innings.

That finalflurry of runs had a demoralising effect on the opposition and it would have required England to make the third highest winning total in Test match history to have won the match. Any thoughts rapidly disappeared once Ambrose and Walsh got started.