Date-stamped : 09 Jul95 - 22:27 England v West Indies, TEST 3 Edgbaston, Birmingham, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11 July 1995 ====> Prematch, 5 Jul 95 England out to blow struggling tourists firmly off course By Christopher Martin-Jenkins IF THE Lord`s Test was truly one which England could not afford to lose, the third game of the six match series for the Wisden Trophy starting in Birmingham this morning has assumed the same crucial importance for the West Indies. Their tour took a wrong turning a fortnight ago and this game will decide if it was merely a navigational error or the start of an unstoppable lurch towards the rocks. The 72-run defeat at Lord`s has been followed by the dismissal of Winston Benjamin and the first defeat by a county side for five tours. These things may be looked back upon merely as temporary setbacks when the long trick`s over. The second Test could easily have been won by the West Indies had Brian Lara batted until lunch on the last day or, indeed, had England not won the toss and batted first. Benjamin was seen as disruptive to the team and the defeat at Hove was suffered without Lara and the three best bowlers, Am- brose, Walsh and Bishop. There was, however, a free admission of mental exhaustion after that match which had been all too apparent while Sussex were run- ning up 446 and the West Indies were collapsing twice. It hard- ly needed amplification: a witness described senior players sit- ting in the dressing room like zombies. It may be that the combined effect of playing far too much inter- national cricket without a break and of losing the Midas touch against Australia has made the West Indies fatally vulnerable, especially since the decision was taken to do without the batting mastery of Desmond Haynes. It would be inadvisable to bet on it just yet, however. They looked ripe for the taking before the first Test at Leeds and won it by nine wickets. Though the three senior fast bowlers are all said to have minor niggles, they have also had a rest and bowled with gusto in the nets yesterday. Morever Kenny Benjamin, unfit at Lord`s, is bowling again and expected to regain his place from Ottis Gibson. Whether it is the strongest attack is doubtful. The most effec- tive bowler on the tour so far, with 28 wickets at 23 runs each, has been Rajindra Dhanraj, whose success as a leg-spinner re- flects the weakness against wrist spinners which still exists throughout English cricket. Indeed, having seen what Mike Atherton referred to as Edgbaston`s `two-tone` pitch, it would be odd if the West Indies management had given no serious thought to seeing whether Dhanraj might be capable of exploiting this weakness. It is an odd looking pitch, for sure, but local opinion, which is probably the soundest, thinks that it will play well at first, become only slightly more uneven in bounce as it wears, and turn less for the spinners than appears likely. Unwisely perhaps, Wes Hall hinted that he and the West Indies team have doubts about it. "The rules don`t allow me to comment it seldom helps a team to go into a big match with preconceived suspicions about the pitch. Tim Munton, Warwickshire`s vice-captain and opening bowler, reckons it will produce plenty of runs and so does Dennis Amiss, Edgbaston`s chief executive. It is certainly very hard, so there should be a bit of help both for batsmen and bowlers: a good toss to win again, no doubt. Richie Richardson`s luck with the coin deserted him at Lord`s after eight successive wins. More important, he is being bowled and lbw so often that one wonders if his batting form has gone for good. Of his 276 runs in 11 first-class innings on tour at 27.6, 101 came in one innings. He is that fashionable being, a leader under siege and if he is still to be, so to speak, elect- able, he needs the support of the senior members of his cabinet, especially Mr Lara. The little left-hander might be willing to give a small plot of land in Trinidad to anyone who could guarantee him a return to his form in England last season. Perhaps fortune is a better word than form: he is averaging 59 on the tour and 53 in the series so far. If he needs a catalyst, it is surely the sight of the ground on which he scored 501 in a single innings and five of his nine championship hundreds. Equally significant, however, is the fact that he has scored only one Test hundred (against New Zealand) since his 375 against England in Antigua last year. One more word about West Indies. As they did here four years ago when Lara himself did not make the Test side, they keep playing less than their best eleven by failing to find a place for Shiv- narine Chanderpaul. Everyone seems to know it, especially the East Indians from his native Guyana. The embarrassment is that it is Richardson who might have to give way to him, which would mean a change of leader in mid-term. It makes a change not to be dwelling on England`s shortcomings. As always, especially against a dangerously wounded West Indies, only the best will be good enough. Alec Stewart pronounced him- self fit for both his roles yesterday despite a wince or two when he jarred his bruised right index finger. Given Graeme Hick`s figures of five for 18 on Monday, the chances are that Mike Wat- kinson will be left to dream of a first Test cap in the next match at Old Trafford. With four fast bowlers more-or-less in form and Hick and Richard Illingworth boosted by such recent suc- cess, the attack, like Barkis, is willin`. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com) ====> Day 1, 6 Jul 95 Hard and fast pitch request backfires on Illingworth by Peter Deeley Depleted West Indies attack make most of ideal pitch for fast bowling "ENGLAND got the pitch they asked for," was the verdict last night from those responsible for the preparation of the Test ve- nue at Edgbaston after Michael Atherton`s side had been bowled out in three hours 40 minutes on winning the toss. Steve Rouse, the Warwickshire groundsman, said he had prepared it according to specifications from the Test and County Cricket Board: "England asked us for a true, quick wicket that may turn towards the end and that is what I have done." Michael Hirst, chairman of the Warwickshire ground committee and a member of the TCCB pitches sub-committe, commented: "We were asked by England, through Ray Illingworth, to induce as much pace and bounce as we could, obviously, hopefully, an even bounce." This was England`s lowest score against West Indies in six Tests at Edgbaston but Illingworth declined to discuss the issue. He had been more forthcoming on the eve of the game, confirming that the Edgbaston authorities had followed guidelines laid down by the board at the start of the season in meetings with grounds- men and county chief executives. "We asked that they prepare hard quick pitches with less grass on the spinners` length." Illingworth observed: "If we get that kind of pitch at Edgbaston that would be ideal," words which were to rebound on him with chilling irony 24 hours later. He avoided suggestions that the pitch had been "deliberately prepared to suit England". Wes Hall, the West Indies tour manager, diplomatically avoided a similar question, remembering no doubt that the tourists` coach, Andy Roberts, had been rapped over the knuckles by the International Cricket Council match re- feree John Reid for suggesting the Lord`s pitch had been under- prepared. "We will play them in the car park if that is what they want" All Hall would say before the game was: "It is the prerogative of the home country to prepare the type of pitch they want. We will play them in the car park if that is what they want." Hirst said yesterday: "As far as current thinking is concerned, this pitch is within the current recommendations laid down by the TCCB. Illingworth asked us to do it and we have obliged. It is a very hard pitch. "When we were working on the pitch Illingworth confirmed this was what he wanted, shaven at the ends. We told him what kind of pitch we were preparing and he said: `Good. Keep it going.` "You are always searching for even bounce. Here the ball pitched short is going high and the full length ball is coming through at the right length. "We are now speculating that the ball will start turning, if there is a fourth day. "I think we are generally happy that the pitch has proved itself. "The question is, do you prepare a pitch with a lot of bounce for a West Indies attack, bearing in mind that England have a useful quick attack too?" Rouse said: "We have had quick pitches here all season and this is another of them. England have got to get used to playing on quick and bouncy pitches like this. This is playing exactly as I said it would. There is no inconsistent bounce. "Allan Donald would have been licking his lips today. Keith Piper [the Warwickshire wicketkeeper] would have been standing on the Cornhill logo to take him. He was 32 yards back for the last game. "I think you can say that only Thorpe got out because of the pitch" "It has hardly done anything off the seam. Atherton played a poor shot, Hick got opened up and was playing towards mid on, Stewart went back instead of forward, Smith hit a long hop to cover and Gough had a slog. "I think you can say that only Thorpe got out because of the pitch - and even then it was a brilliant ball from Curtly Am- brose." Jason Gallian, who fractured a finger of his right hand was due to see a specialist last night. England were leaving until later a decision whether he could bat in the second innings. There was concern too in the West Indies` dressing room about whether Ambrose would recover sufficiently from his groin strain to bowl again in the match. Ambrose, who went off the field after breaking down in his eighth over, was still having treatment last night. Asked whether his No 1 strike bowler could bowl again in the Test, Hall said: "Only if it`s necessary." Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com) ====> Day 2, 7 Jul 95 Richardson in dogged mood as West Indies scent victory By Christopher Martin-Jenkins NOT since 1966 have England lost a home Test inside three days but, barring a partnership of almost May/ Cowdrey proportions, the West Indies will win the third Test at Edgbaston today. It would put them one up in the six-match series, cost English cricket at least #200,000 in lost ticket revenue and retrieve every inch of the ground which England made up on their opponents with their victory at Lord`s. Their heroes there, Robin Smith and Dominic Cork, were desperate- ly holding the fort against long odds and rampant opponents when a dramatic second day finished 15 minutes late. For once an enthralled crowd will hardly have noticed that after a shortfall of 11 overs on the first day, six more were lost yesterday as the fast bowlers of both sides strove in the heat in their own time. England had to face a mere 17 overs on a hot and sunlit evening after fighting back with determination in the field, Cork again to the fore: it was just the right sort of session for the West Indies to make the most of the advantage which their disciplined batting performance had gained them. Richie Richardson`s dogged, four-hour occupation of the crease, rather than the shimmering talent of Brian Lara, was the main means by which they created a first-innings lead of 153. England will start this morning still 94 runs behind without any help from Michael Atherton, Graeme Hick and Graham Thorpe, three of only four fit specialist batsmen. All of them were dismissed cheaply by Courtney Walsh and Ian Bishop, who responded to the absence of Curtly Ambrose with his strained groin muscle by mak- ing menacing, yet shrewd use of the new ball. If both Jason Gallian (hairline fracture of his right middle finger) and Alec Stewart (two badly bruised fingers) were not ob- liged to bat under considerable handicap today, England might feel reasonably confident of making the injury to Ambrose count on a pitch now much less green. The ball is bouncing truly, but it is flying through with speed. England can turn the game round only by means of at least one ma- jor partnership: not perhaps as many as the 411 by which Peter May and Colin Cowdrey laid the bogy of Sonny Ramadhin in 1957, but by something at least three times the 44 which is so far their best stand here. The first two hours this morning will be their final chance. Smith, with splendid pugnacity and powerful driving, for all the short arc of his bat through the ball, has held the effort to- gether so far after opening in Stewart`s absence, but Cork, too, ended the day as he began it, as buoyant as his name. Cork came in with England tottering at 26 for three The chances are that he will not have much, if anything, to bowl at in the second innings but, whatever the result, the fact that he has followed up his inspirational spell at Lord`s with another one in much more demanding circumstances here is confirmation that a cricketer of verve and skill has seized his moment. Cork came in with England tottering at 26 for three. Atherton, on the back foot to a good length ball after Walsh had driven him there by a series of shorter deliveries, had been bowled middle stump in the seventh over, after 32 minutes of fierce attack. Hick followed an over later, caught at second slip off what the batsman apparently believed to have been his forearm guard rather than his wrist, whereupon Thorpe played a heedless slash which landed in Junior Murray`s gloves. Richardson`s patience and Sherwin Campbell`s brilliant off-side play had created the opportunity after Cork`s three wickets in the first hour of the day had come close to restoring equilibri- um. Lara was leg before to the third ball of the day, shaping to turn a straight ball to leg and the same wicket-to-wicket attack gave Cork the next prized left-hander`s wicket, that of Jimmy Adams, before the West Indies had got their lead. The disciplined line England have bowled to the left-handers has contrasted sharply throughout the series with the indulgence with which they have ushered Campbell into his regular Test career. Darren Gough and Angus Fraser, especially, allowed him too much width. Forty-four of his first 50 came in fours, the great major- ity driven between backward point and mid-off, and his 15th boun- dary took his side in front before Cork nipped a ball through his gate. Fraser at last settled to his best line and length Fraser at last settled to his best line and length and had his reward when Keith Arthurton, too, was leg before but Richardson would not give way. For so natural a strokemaker, his innings was a noble piece of self-sacrifice. Coming in at No 5 in the 48th over, he was last out in the 98th. He was in for 18 overs before lunch for seven runs and stayed on seven for 41 minutes. Occupation of the crease was his sole intent at first but he stayed to prove the maxim that if you stay there long enough the runs will come. He had, too, some of the luck he deserved. In the same over that he had clipped Fraser off his legs for his first four he survived a confident appeal for a catch to the wicket-keeper off the inside edge and thigh pad. When he had made 25 he was dropped at first slip by Atherton off Cork. That would have made the score 223 for seven. In the event Richardson stayed to enjoy the fruit of his very considerable la- bour, starting to play some of his trademark strokes square of the wicket on the off-side and through mid on. First Murray and then Bishop gave him useful support, Murray full of enterprise, Bishop of dedication. Murray was brilliantly caught by Stewart from a rebound off Hick`s hands at second slip and Bishop scooped Richard Illingworth to midwicket when Atherton finally tried a change of pace. The last three wickets went relatively quickly after tea, two of them in bizarre succession. First Kenny Benjamin was condemned by the third umpire`s reading of the television replay as he took a chance on a third run to Atherton, running back from mid-off. Then, next ball, Walsh sprinted down the pitch as Richardson played to cover where Cork threw down the wicket at the bowler`s end. Richardson cut the new ball on to his stumps soon after but he had guided his team to a lead of 153 and a position which his bowlers rapidly exploited. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by The Management (help@*ogi.edu) ====> Day 3, 8 Jul 95 WEST INDIES CLINCHES THIRD TEST by Leo Robinson, Windsor, England Armed with a spell of ferocious bowling the West Indies routed out England for 89 runs in their second inning to win the 3rd test match at Edgbaston by an innings and 64 runs. The West In- dies pace trio of Bishop, Walsh, and Benjamin bowled well on tar- get on a pitch that favored pace bowling to finish off and humi- liate England only after 75 minutes of play this morning, the third day of play in the five day test match. England`s Prime Minister John Major, a fan of cricket, was in the VIP box to wit- ness the West Indies superb performance this morning. Today`s win put the West Indies 2-1 up in the six Tests Match series. Courtney Walsh and Ian Bishop had the batting pitch like a dentist`s waiting, calling for `next please` as they took wicket after wicket in finishing off England. Alex Stewart did not bat for England in the losing cause. He is still nursing a bad finger he suffered in the first innings. Dominic Cork (16), Darren Gough (12), and Robin Smith (41) were the only English batsmen to reach double figures in the second innings. Other scores were Mike Arthurton 4, Graham Hick 3, and Fraser 1. There were 3 ducks and Stewart did not venture into the crease. Ian Bishop took his 100th test wicket in good fashion when he bowled Robin Smith for 41. His 100 wickets are at an average of 19.46, the sixth best ever in modern cricket history. His performance is amazing for a player coming back from double broken backs and surgeries. Courtney Walsh, the West Indies and Gloustershire pace bowler took 4 for 29 in the second innings [today] to help the West Indies` winning cause. Benjamin also bowled well without taking a wicket. Curtley Ambrose was missing for most of the game. Hopefully he will recover in time for the next test. The West Indies` performance in this test is the most lethal per- formance that they have put on in a very long time to give Eng- land their first 3 day loss since 1966. The English skipper Mike Arthurton said after the match that the conditions were slightly inhospitable to his team. He also said that the pitch was a dia- bolical pitch on which the pace bowlers were difficult to play. He suggested that the groundsmen need to prepare a good pitch for test match cricket and a pitch that would favor the home side. The Egdbaston pitch allowed the game to finish in two and a half days. At the end of a dramatic morning, Michael Holding presented the man of the match award of 1000 pounds to Sherwin Campbell in front of a vociferous crowd that gathered in front of the main pavilion to witness the presentations. According to Holding, "it was much more difficult batting on this wicket, than it was bowl- ing on it". Sherwin Campbell`s first innings score of 79 won him the award ahead of the other nominees which included Bishop`s match performance figures of 7 for 47, and Walsh`s 8 for 99. Da- vid Gower presented Richie Richardson a check for 15 thousand pounds for the winning team. In contrast, the winner of the Wim- bledon women`s finals scheduled for a 2:00pm start today will re- ceive 328,000 pounds. West Indies win by an inning and 64 runs in 2 days and 75 minutes. WELL DONE WEST INDIES. Contributed by John.Ferguson (ferguson@onramp.net) ====> Day 3, more England bruised in every sense West Indies fast bowlers enjoy all the breaks on pitch that was made to measure, reports Christopher Martin-Jenkins. A 40-over match between Warwickshire, who beat Leicestershire in two days, and the West Indies, who beat England in two days and 77 minutes, will be played at Edgbaston today instead of the fourth day of the third Test, which should have been building to- wards a climax this morning. It is the greatest shame and there are lessons to be learned beyond the obvious one that every cricket match ever played has been shaped by the surface on which it is played. Questions come flooding to mind. Why did an English groundsman, and a very good one, prepare a surface ideal for the West Indies fast bowlers? Should groundsmen always try to prepare the best possible pitch, which surely means one with pace but true bounce which gives spinners a chance later in the game, or should they endeavour instead to produce one suited to bowlers on the home side? Why was the pitch not personally assessed for hardness by an En- glish selector, preferably the chairman, before the team was chosen? Why, once it had been seen two days before the match, was Devon Malcolm not sent for, as John Emburey had been when Edgbaston`s previous groundsmen produced an arid pitch ideal for Shane Warne and Tim May two years ago? In the event, Emburey made a greater contribution with the bat than with the ball, but at least England gave themselves a chance by having bowlers suited to the pitch. There are broader questions, too. Why, on a fast, unreliable pitch, do batting gloves, in the age of technology, not give vulnerable fingers better protection? Why, too, will "intimida- tion" not be discussed at this week`s International Cricket Coun- cil meeting at Lord`s, as it has been at so many of their annual meetings in recent years? Should the umpires at Edgbaston have paid more attention to the law of intimidation which, if law 42 is properly interpreted, must still override any ques- tions about the height of the bounce, regardless of the temporary "two bouncers an over" regulation? The pitch was more to blame than the bowlers In answering various appeals, Mervyn Kitchen had an impeccable match, and Ian Robinson a good one. They should not be blamed for shirking from a proper interpretation of the law when few, if any, of those on the international list would have warned the bowlers. The West Indians would have felt victimised if they had done so, and one can see why, yet how could anyone conclude, in view of the first two sentences of that law, that much of the bowling was not unfair? "The bowling of fast, short-pitched balls is unfair if, in the opinion of the umpire at the bowler`s end, it constitutes an at- tempt to intimidate the striker. Umpires shall consider intimida- tion to be the deliberate bowling of fast short-pitched balls which by their length, height and direction are intended or like- ly to inflict physical injury on the striker." The inflicting of injury was fact, not a matter of opinion: Alec Stewart could not bat because of the risk to further breaks to fingers badly bruised from both batting and keeping; Robin Smith was bruised on fingers and shoulders; Jason Gallian sustained a broken finger; Richard Illingworth a broken knuckle. The pitch was more to blame than the bowlers and no side pos- sessed of the same armoury as the West Indies would not have used it as ruthlessly as Ian Bishop, who now has 101 wickets, at 19 runs each, in only 21 Tests, and Courtney Walsh. Nor were England`s batsmen to blame, although Graham Thorpe, having played exceptionally well in the first innings, knows his stroke in the second was unworthy. The captain and the England chairman blamed the pitch but not the groundsman Feelings are running high, inevitably. A Test scheduled to last a minimum of 450 overs was concluded in the 173rd. England batted for only 74 overs and two balls in their two innings and only 30 overs, for 89 all out, in their second. The captain and the Eng- land chairman blamed the pitch but not the groundsman. The West Indies manager, having got his (implied) criticisms in before the match, admitted he would not mind carrying it around in his hip pocket. As Ray Illingworth had predicted, the bare patches at the end of the pitch were too hard to allow spinners to get any purchase. Equally, as Wes Hall had guessed, the combination of greeness and hardness in the middle played into the hands of the very tall, very strong, West Indian bowlers. The margin of their victory, an innings and 64 runs, was incredible given the fact that the bowler to whom the conditions were suited most perfectly, Curtly Ambrose, broke down in his eighth over and delivered not another ball. Had conditions on a good length been green and soft they might equally have suited England. The West Indies captain did not think it was "too bad a wicket." Mike Atherton thought it was "a diabolical pitch to play Test cricket on" and added that neither Richie Richardson nor any of the West Indies batsmen would have enjoyed playing on it against their own attack. Of course they would not have done. The West Indies would have beaten anyone on a pitch like this No sane cricketer would, a point which should be noted by a form- er England captain, Mike Brearley, who appears at matches on oc- casional Saturdays only, yet who, in yesterday`s Observer, took a "non-playing scribe" to task for an erroneous judgment as if the writer in question, who in fact has played a great deal of crick- et and once defeated two Test players en route to the final of the Surrey Single Wicket Championship, had ever suggested batting was fun against very fast bowlers aiming for the body, not the stumps. The West Indies would have beaten anyone on a pitch like this. Without Bishop, they defeated Australia in an even shorter match - 163.5 overs - in Port of Spain in April. With Bishop, they might not have lost that series. Equally, with Malcolm, England would not have lost so heavily at Edgbaston. If nothing else is learned by England, the chairman of selectors must resolve always to make a personal inspection of the Test pitch as late as possi- ble before the team is selected. Often it will change in the days intervening before the game begins, but at least he will have a first-hand assessment in mind. The mid-season respite afforded by the first of the one-day fi- nals at Lord`s on Saturday allows time for passions to cool and wounds to heal. Whether those of Stewart can fully do so will be the first essential question for the selectors when they meet on Saturday week to choose a side for Old Trafford. Peter Marron, Lancashire`s expert groundsman, apparently expects less pace in the pitch than there was last year, when every New Zealand wicket taken by England on a hard surface fell to a fast bowler. Some of the pitches there have turned this season, by judicious applica- tion of sand. If England want to win at Old Trafford and level the series, a bit more sand and the selection of Watkinson, plus Tufnell or Salisbury, would be the answer. That is what Illingworth and Ath- erton might pray for, or even quietly request. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by The Management (help@*ogi.edu)