At the close of the third day of this very even four day game,the West Indies “A” team might just have a slight upper hand inthis game, but India “A”‘s batsmen are proving to be veryresolute indeed
Colin Croft21-Nov-1999At the close of the third day of this very even four day game,the West Indies “A” team might just have a slight upper hand inthis game, but India “A”‘s batsmen are proving to be veryresolute indeed.Having led the visiting India “A” team by 63 runs of firstinnings, the West Indies “A” had restricted India “A” to 54 – 1after 18 overs at the end of day 3, with the not out batsmenbeing Jacob Martin, promoted to No. 3, with an enterprising 36and opener Gagan Khoda, with a patient 14.The day began with much prospect for Antigua & Barbuda and theLeeward Islands batsman, Sylvester Joseph, who was not out on 56overnight, and young Barbadian Ryan Hinds, who was not outovernight on two, the West Indies “A” 131-4.India “A”, though, did not have to wait long for their firstsuccess of the 3rd day. In the 3rd over of the day, with thescore on 134, and having only added 2 to his overnight score,Joseph drove at a slower ball from pacer Dodda Ganesh, only topresent a simple catch to Murali Kartik, fielding at extra-cover.Joseph out for 58, West Indies “A” 134-5 in over 58, Ganesh’sthird wicket.A brisk and extremely mature partnership of 114 between Hinds andhis new partner, Rawl Lewis, then ensued. Lewis is a veryaggressive lower middle order batsman and it showed. By the timethe partnership and both innings had been completed, both batsmenhad recorded their best first class score.Lunch was taken with West Indies “A” 189-5, with Lewis 19 andHinds 37.Lewis then pummeled the bowling to all quarters of the ground andeventually became the 6th wicket, but not before he had made adelightful 64, which included six 4’s, one 6 and a 7 (three runplus four overthrows). He only faced 129 deliveries for his 64.His previous best first class score had been 59 in Pakistan in1997/8.Lewis was finally outfoxed by the persevering Murali Kartik, whohad the batsman plumb lbw with the “arm ball”, the batsman beingon the back foot. West India “A” 248-6 in over 106.India “A” had taken the second new ball after 93 overs, but gotno immediate success from it. It was left to the steady orthodoxleg-spinner, Kartik, to do the honors for India “A”.Hinds, just 18 years old, playing in his first year of firstclass cricket, impressed tremendously with his maturity. Henever seemed fazed by anything that India “A” could throw at him,and by the time he was 7th out, he had made 62, his 2nd firstclass half century, but his highest score to date, surpassing his58 against Trinidad & Tobago earlier this year.Tea was taken with the West Indies “A” 267-6, with Hinds 62 andMcLean 1.Hinds batted for 263 minutes and faced 182 deliveries, hittingsix 4’s and one six, and then became just too ambitious. Hetried to drive Kartik over his head, only succeeding in lofting acomfortable catch to Gagan Khoda at mid-on. West Indies “A”267-7 in over 113.That same over was again profitable for Kartik, as he soon hadNixon McLean bowled, off the pads, for one. West Indies “A”268-8.Wayne Phillip, West Indies “A” wicket keeper, should have beenthe next wicket, as he was badly dropped by the energetic but sofar, not so impressive India “A” wicket-keeper, Sameer Dighe.The bowler was Harvinder Singh Sodhi and Phillip had only made 3then. He ended up with 9 not out.Sodhi, who ended up with no wickets, and the only India “A”bowler to register no-balls, must have cursed his luck, as he hadalready dropped Nixon McLean from a presented return catch.Kartik quickly ended West Indies “A” innings, getting the lasttwo wickets and ending with excellent and well deserved figuresof 6-75 from 35.2 overs. Kartik is very similar in style toSunil Joshi, another Indian spinner. I predict that it would notbe long before we see Kartik in Test cricket.Firstly, he had Dwight Mais nicely stumped by Dighe for 4, WestIndies “A” 277-9 in over 116, then he repeated the sequence byhaving last man Goldwyn Prince also stumped for 7, the WestIndies “A” all out for 289, a healthy lead of 63.In their second innings, India “A” lost a wicket in the veryfirst over. Nixon McLean, bowling at a full length for a change,hit the pads of Sridharan Sriram with the pads very adjacent tothe stumps, out LBW for no score, India “A” 3-1.Jacob Martin, one of India “A”‘s more experienced internationalcricketers, was promoted to No. 3 and the move paid off for India”A”.By the time the umpire had decided that the light was to gloomyand poor to continue, still with 5 overs of the day’s allotmentto be completed, Martin had stroked his way to 36 not out,including three 4’s, while his less adventurous partner, GaganKhoda, could only manage 14.Martin was dropped, a simple return catch to Rawl Lewis when thescore was 51-1 and Martin’s score 24. He and India “A live tofight into the 4th and final day.A draw is the likely result now.