Flogging a dead dog

It is matches such as this that give Test cricket a bad name.

Batsmen on both sides, five of whom amassed hundreds in a contest that yielded 1 142 runs for 18 wickets, would not necessarily agree, as the fourth Cable & Wireless Test meandered to a meaningless draw at the Antigua Recreation Ground (ARG) yesterday.

Two evenly-matched teams might not be dissatisfied with the outcome that leaves them locked 1-1 with the final Test starting at Sabina Park on Saturday to be the series decider.

But when the wicket-keeper removes his pads and gloves to send down an over simply so that all XI on the team can be entered in the bowling column, as Ajay Ratra did towards the end for India, it degrades a game struggling to maintain its popularity.

Equally, when a quality batsman in the best form of his life spends 5-1/2 hours and 242 balls adding 56 to his overnight score and pats back half-volleys and long-hops from novice bowlers, as Shivnarine Chanderpaul did on his way to an unbeaten 136, it reduces the contest to absurdity.

Had it not been for a typically boisterous 118 before his small, hometown crowd by Ridley Jacobs and uninhibited late tailend hitting by Merv Dillon, the day would have been even more forgettable and pointless than it was.

The villain of the piece was not the players but the conditions.

Against all hope and expectation, especially after the West Indies' victory in the third Test at Kensington Oval, the ARG presented a pitch so devoid of life as to render bowlers virtually impotent.

It was similar to that in 1994 when Brian Lara amassed his Test record 375 against England and the only completed innings produced totals of 593, the highest in the 17 Tests on the ground until the West Indies' 629 for nine declared yesterday.

It took 248 overs to accumulate but, as captain Carl Hooper observed afterwards, it was a commendable effort when they started out requiring 313 just to avoid the possibility of the follow-on.

In truth, it would have taken an XI comprising the clueless tailenders from both these teams to have achieved an outright result.

V.V.S. Laxman and Ratra, the little 20-year-old in his third Test, utilised the favourable circumstances to amass their hundreds in their stand of 217 in India's innings.

Hooper followed suit on the fourth day and, in their completely contrasting ways, left-handers Chanderpaul and Jacobs did not intend to miss out yesterday, especially as India would have to again make do without their key leg-spinner, Anil Kumble, by now back in Bangalore having his fractured jaw attended to.

Jacobs' second Test hundred was a joy, Chanderpaul's fifth and third for the series a struggle.

Dropped from the first two Tests after more than three years as the incumbent wicket-keeper, Jacobs was reinstated in Barbados where he was out for a duck.

The muscular left-hander immediately advertised his mood when he entered late on the previous afternoon, smashed his first six and rushed to 18.

It did not change on resumption. His first intention was attack and he was undeterred by the rapid approach of his deserving landmark.

Right away, he deposited Sachin Tendulkar's long hop over square-leg for his second six and he showed his disdain for the third new ball by hoisting the left-arm Ashish Nehra onto the roof of the Media Centre at straight long-on 20 minutes to lunch when he was 77.

While Chanderpaul eked out 26 in the first session, Jacobs blasted 59 in the two hours. And so it continued.

Eleven away from his hundred, he chose maximum hits to reach his goal. The way they reacted in the stands and on the bleachers, it was as if Antigua Carnival had arrived two months early.

The first six, off Zaheer Khan offering up left-arm spin, rebounded off the sightscreen wall. The second, off Laxman's optimistic off-spin, sailed over long-on into the Richie Richardson Stand and carried Jacobs from 98 to 102.

A year ago, against South Africa at Kensington Oval, Jacobs also got to his hundred with a couple of sixes. It's not a bad way to eliminate the supposedly nervous 90s.

The second stroke added a new, and amazing, piece of trivia to the game's exhaustive list.

As Jacobs joined Ratra on three figures, it was the first time in the 1 602 Tests played since the first in 1877 that wicket-keepers on either side have scored hundreds.

Jacobs had given Chanderpaul a headstart of 77 when he replaced Hooper the day before. He caught him at 117 but, one run later, provided Rahul Dravid with his first Test wicket with a hard pull to mid-wicket.

Laxman, who dropped Chanderpaul at 108 in the same position off Nehra, held on this time to end four hours' genuine entertainment that included five sixes and 11 fours.

By now, India were going through the motions. Every non-bowler was salivating at the prospect of a Test wicket and the runless West Indies tailenders saw the chance of a few cheap runs.

Dillon duly lashed his highest Test score, 43, with two sixes and six fours. Pedro Collins and Adam Sanford swung the bat as they hadn't been able to before in Test cricket. And Wasim Jaffer and Laxman celebrated their wickets while other genuine bowlers who had toiled through over after over shook their heads at the inequalities of the game.

All the while, Chanderpaul would not be shifted for his mission.

He noted at the start of the series that he was concerned that his average had fallen below 40. It has risen rapidly after his 140 in the first Test and his unbeaten 101 in the third.

It took another quantum leap when the match was mercifully ended by Hooper's declaration at 4:25 p.m. with Chanderpaul with 136 against his name.

The hope is that he did not play himself out of form in the process.