by Haydn Gill in Jamaica
If the entertainment value was minimal, it was surely a day the purists would have enjoyed.
Apart from the double celebration of centuries for Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan, the third day of the first Digicel Test at Sabina Park yesterday lacked excitement.
But, it was yet another day of fascinating, absorbing exchanges and the more than 7 000 fans in the stands appreciated the compelling tussle between West Indies and England.
They jubilantly acclaimed Gayle’s ninth Test century and first on home soil and were just as exuberant when Sarwan reached his 12th Test hundred 20 minutes later.
They were a little subdued when England claimed a double-strike as lunch approached and when the flow of runs considerably dried up after the break in an hour of play that only produced 14 runs.
But, they were thankful that West Indies didn’t suffer a typically swift collapse as they are so often prone to, even if there was a mini slide in which four wickets fell for 34.
Instead, they watched on in approval at every precious run scored, every landmark attained, every hour survived.
After the hundreds from Gayle and Sarwan, West Indies were grateful to Brendan Nash and Denesh Ramdin for taking them to first innings lead which was achieved an hour to stumps with five wickets down with the help of their sixth-wicket stand of 66.
The left-handed Nash batted soundly for the better part of three-and-three-quarter hours for an unbeaten 47 that came from 146 balls but there was a period of uncertainty in the evening when he was lucky to survive.
Ramdin played with confidence for his 35, but when he provided left-arm Monty Panesar with his first wicket in his 37th over from an edged drive to slip and equally unimpressive Steve Harmison claimed his first scalp by dislodging Jerome Taylor, England would have felt they were back in the match.
On another day when the TV replay umpire was kept busy by three referrals, West Indies gradually built up a position in which they could press for victory.
They won’t mind that only 192 runs came in the entire day, but would take comfort from reaching 352 for seven at stumps.
It has essentially come down to a second innings contest, but the more West Indies can add to their lead of 34, the better their chances will be to complete their first Test win against England in almost nine years.
Gayle and Sarwan duly reached their centuries in the morning session, but Andrew Flintoff and Stuart Broad posed a big threat throughout to revive England’s interest in the contest after the hosts resumed on 160 for one.
The Kodak moment of the first session was snapped when Gayle arrived at an overdue maiden Test century at Sabina Park in a blaze of glory. He got there by lifting Panesar for successive sixes over long-on that were followed by a swept three that took him to a second successive Test hundred.
It came after he benefited from a referral when he was given out by Tony Hill to a keeper’s leg-side catch off Andrew Flintoff on 85. The ball came from his backside and it was the second time in the match the New Zealand umpire had to reverse a decision.
Sarwan appeared headed to triple-digits before Gayle, but ended up having to wait until just before lunch to get there and by that time England had dispatched the West Indies captain and Xavier Marshall.
Ten minutes shy of lunch, Gayle became the first of Broad’s three wickets from a ball he could do little with, one that kept low and came off the inside edge onto his stumps.
It ended a captain’s innings of 104 that came from 193 balls in 347 minutes’ batting in which his five sixes were matched by as many fours and it ended his second-wicket partnership with Sarwan that was worth 202.
Marshall, his place in the team increasingly questioned, arrived to survive a confident lbw appeal to his first ball, but there was no doubt he was out from his second when he shuffled across his stumps.
Sarwan kept his composure to move to his hundred just before lunch but fell 40 minutes after when England continued to apply pressure.
Flintoff’s figures didn’t show it, but he was England’s best bowler and his only scalp was that of Sarwan, who chopped a ball into his stumps and was dismissed for 107 that occupied six hours in which he faced 290 balls and counted 10 boundaries.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul spent almost two hours in Nash’s company at a time when the runs dried up and 15 minutes before tea, West Indies’ most reliable bastman was lbw to Broad after unsuccessfully challenging the lbw decision on the grounds of height.
