Garth Wattley in St John’s
The sprawling beauty of the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium was clearly seen all day yesterday. Hardly a spectator cluttered the view of the plastic seating in the sprawling main stand or its northern counterpart, or the grassy bankings to the east and west.
Precious few people took the time to see if the West Indies would improve on their noteworthy work in defeat in the First Test at Sabina Park. The missing masses probably did not regret their decision to stay away.
A snail-slow pitch, the loss of the toss, Simon Katich’s third Test hundred (113 not out, 241 balls, nine fours), and his century partnership with captain Ricky Ponting (65, 123 balls, five fours), kept the West Indies at bay on the first day of this Second Digicel Test.
Australia, one-nil up in the three-match series, concluded the first day of Test cricket at the new venue at about 5.35 under floodlights. They were 259 for three. Some eight overs were still outstanding.
It was very slow going by the fielding team but reflective of the way they had to graft all day.
For the superstitious, the sight of Fidel Edwards twisting his ankle as he slipped trying to deliver his first ball of the match, might have been a bad sign of things to come for the Windies.
Edwards avoided serious injury. But the little man who caused such concern to the Aussies in Jamaica, could inflict very little damage on the opposition batsmen on a cool day at North Sound.
It was not for the want of trying or discipline that Edwards, Daren Powell, Jerome Taylor, Dwayne Bravo and Darren Sammy managed just the three wickets between them.
The strip was a party pooper; a lifeless, brown stretch of earth. There was more discernable movement in molasses than off it yesterday. Forget about chest high bounce.
West Indies icon Sir Viv himself, was a “disappointed” man with what was produced for the ground’s Test debut.
The West Indies’ five-man seam attack, had to rely for relief on the occasional leg-spin of captain Ramnaresh Sarwan (5-0-16-0). Sulieman Benn, the squad’s lone spin survivor from the First Test was left out. So too, was Chris Gayle, who despite being included in the squad for this match, was still not considered sufficiently recovered from his groin injury to lead the team.
After the first session, the dressing room would have been the more comfortable place to be. Catching a snooze.
A score of 70 for one was fairly pedestrian by modern-day Aussie standards.
Sarwan’s bowlers waged a war of attrition all day. They kept to a tight off-stump line and held back the short stuff, hoping for the batsmen to make the error.
Only Phil Jaques obliged.
He and opening partner Katich produced their best stand so far in the series—36.
But shortly into the second hour, second change Bravo got Jaques lbw with his third ball. The batsman played across a delivery which was heading for middle and leg-stumps.
Katich, determined to justify his place as the injured Matthew Hayden’s stand-in, saw out the first session, taking 58 balls to get 24. Captain Ponting was quicker into stride, with 28 off 32.
And the pair were still together and well entrenched by tea. They had taken their second-wicket partnership to 115, and the overall total to 151.
The alarms for them were nonexistent, except once when Sammy had Ponting—38 at the time—edging a delivery, but on the bounce to Devon Smith at first slip.
Sarwan finished off the session, trying to buy a wicket at the northern end.
But after tea, it was Taylor who had success.
Fully recovered from the lower back strain which kept him out of the opening game, he removed Ponting. Shortly before, when he had reached 61, the Australian skipper joined the elite 10,000-run club. He was the seventh man to do so behind Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar, Allan Border, Sunil Gavaskar, Rahul Dravid and Steve Waugh. The platform seemed to have been laid for another big century. But on 64, and the partnership worth 136, Ponting got loose, reached for a drive at Taylor and was well caught by Xavier Marshall, stretching out with both hands to his right at second slip.
Like most of the people watching, Marshall probably could barely believe he had got this chance to play in place of his out-of-depth Jamaica teammate Brenton Parchment.
His catch however was a timely boost for his side. But the home team did not seize every opportunity.
Runako Morton in the gully put Katich down on 91. It was not the most difficult chance in the world, certainly far less difficult than the blinder he held to dismiss wicketkeeper Brad Haddin in the First Test. And his rare miss was not in keeping with the standard the Windies have set so far in this series.
However, the blemish was a welcome break for the New South Wales left-hander whose last century was three years ago.
The partnership of Hayden and Justin Langer at the top of the order had given him limited opportunities in the side. He made his let-off count by off-driving Bravo through midwicket for four to raise the ton.
Michael Clarke was at the crease to celebrate with him, the Aussie vice-captain having replaced Mike Hussey who had pulled Sammy straight to Shivnarine Chanderpaul at midwicket to leave the score on 199 for three.
Clarke, having his first knock of the series after coming off compassionate leave, was quickly into stride, driving tiring bowlers with confidence. At stumps, he had counted five fours in his 38. And the last session in which 33 overs were bowled, yielded 108 runs.
But Sarwan will be hoping today’s first session will yield a few quick wickets for his bowlers. Very early.
