Garth Wattley in St John’s
For two sessions yesterday, moisture would not leave the turf at the US$22 million Sir Vivian Richards Stadium here.
For four-and-a-half hours, Ricky Ponting’s Australia side could make no progress in the Second Digicel Test match.
And when the actual cricket was concluded for the day, the Aussies were still being held up.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul (55, six fours) and Dwayne Bravo (29, one four, two sixes) made up for the loss of skipper Ramnaresh Sarwan with an unbroken fifth-wicket partnership of 73 as the West Indies ended on 255 for four.
An academic 25 more runs are needed for the home side to avoid the discomfort of being asked to follow on.
Enough messing up was evident yesterday without insult being added to injury for the Caribbean public.
Early morning showers left several puddles on the northern sections of the ground, the same areas which caused problems during the World Cup matches over a year ago.
Comprehensive work on the drainage system is not expected to be done until two weeks after this game. But to the dismay of the authorities here, and the frustration of the players and match officials, the interim attempts to improve the run-off of water failed.
The result was, that for about four hours yesterday, while the “Sir Vivian” was bathed in sunshine, the water beneath the surface in the trouble spots just did not dry up despite the combined and repeated use of the heavy-duty super-sopper, the smaller water hog and the old fashioned sponges by the ground staff.
“Well, I’m extremely disappointed because after we had had that problem last year, we thought that we had have enough work done on it since then to bring us to point where we would not be facing this today,” Antigua prime minister Baldwin Spencer responded. “I don’t know the details but clearly it is a very embarrassing situation.”
Three inspections were needed in front of just about the largest crowd of the match before play could start.
But when it did, the conditions were hardly an issue. They remained good for batting. Sarwan and Chanderpaul, the overnight batsmen, found little to trouble them.
In the first hour, they added 39, taking the overnight score of 125 for three to 164 against Brett Lee and Stuart Clarke.
Ponting’s claustrophobic field settings may have stopped a few boundaries but did not frustrate the Windies’ two most senior batsmen.
Sarwan, with double failures in the First Test at Sabina Park, completed his fifth score of 50 or more in seven innings during this international Test season. Chanderpaul was his usual sedate self. He was 18 in that time, with just one boundary—guided to vacant third man.
Lee and Clarke delivered the first 16 overs without success. Then Ponting turned to spin and Stuart MacGill.
The graying leg-spinner caused a bit of a stir yesterday with the sudden announcement of his retirement from international cricket at the end of this match.
MacGill 37, having spent the bulk of his career bowling in the shadow of his fellow leggie, Shane Warne, had just come back to the game from wrist surgery.
He got four wickets that flattered him in the first game but endured a wild spell on the second afternoon of this Test on Saturday, when he could hardly land the ball on the pitch.
But irony of ironies, it was he who made the lone breakthrough for the Aussies.
In between sending down eight no-balls and one wide, MacGill managed to get a leg-break to spin from middle and off-stump and clip the outside edge as Sarwan (65, four fours, one six) prodded forward. Michael Clarke at slip dove to his right to grasp the catch with his right hand.
At last, there was a genuine reason for MacGill to smile. But then it was back to the agony.
Inexplicably, he continued to overstep and overstep and serve up boundary balls.
Twice Bravo dispatched full tosses beyond the rope. The first six was lifted over the leaping Lee on the long-on boundary; the second was swung over midwicket.
It seemed cruel and unusual punishment for captain Ponting to keep the suffering man on so long. Eventually, when the WI total had reached 248, MacGill (16-1-82-1 overall) was part of a double change, Clarke and Andrew Symonds replacing him and Mitchell Johnson respectively.
Chanders and Bravo saw them off too. A productive session for the Windies had yielded 130 runs.
Weather and drainage permitting, this pair will aim to make the first session this morning will be just as fruitful.
