da dobrowin： In Colombo today we caught a glimpse of the West Indies future – itwas fast and hostile
Charlie Austin13-Jan-2000In Colombo today we caught a glimpse of the West Indies future – itwas fast and hostile. Andy Richardson, Jermaine Lawson and CalistoLopez blew away the English top order, eventually bowling out Englandfor 98, ninety nine runs short of their target of 197. The exuberantWest Indians, who are coached by the inspirational Gus Logie, have nowqualified for the Super Eights. England must beat Zimabawe onSaturday.The pace of the West Indians clearly rattled the English batsmen whoplayed a succession of bad shots. The running between the wicket wasalso poor with three run outs from direct hits. Andy Richardson wasparticularly impressive in his new ball spell, that accounted forMichael Carberry(5). His rhythmical run-up and smooth action clearlymark him out as a bowler of huge potential. Carilitos Lopez was moreerratic but also impressive. The outswinger that clipped the top ofIan Bells off stump was quite simply unplayable. Lawson too got intothe action with a wicket on his first delivery. This followed a hattrick against Zimbabwe on Tuesday, in his last over of the tournament.But it wasn’t just the quicks that performed. Rodney Sooklal, theirquickish off-spinner, returned the remarkable figures of10-5-11-2. The leaden footed English batsmen weren’t able to get togrips with his pace through the air or the sharp turn that heextracted.The afternoon’s proceedings marked a dramatic turnaround in thefortunes of the West Indians, whose own batsmen had struggled to cometo terms with some fine English bowling in the morning.West Indies, who won the toss and elected to bat despite the overcastconditions, were soon in trouble. Tim Murtagh’s second ball of the dayhad Brenton Parchment caught behind, pushing a goodoutswinger. Sionarine Chattergoon was next to go, brilliantly caughtby the diving Ian Bell at first slip.A period of consolidation followed as the West Indians tried to seeoff the English opening bowlers, both of whom were moving the ballprodigiously. With hindsight, the decision to replace Murtagh in theeleventh over with the spin of Graham Bridge may have been amistake. The conditions were tailor made for seambowling. Nevertheless Bridge bowled well, varying his paceintelligently and extracting significant turn.When Phillips had the talented Wilkinson stumped, with the score on54, Hinds the West Indian skipper was brought to the crease. Hisinnings of 69 turned around the game for the West Indians and was thecornerstone of their 196 all out. Indeed the 69 partnership withDeonarine briefly threatened to give them a score in excess of200. However when Hinds was bowled by the part-time off spin of theEngland captain the West Indies collapsed. The final 5 wickets fallingfor 13 runs.