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The West Indian cricketers who had pride of place in the Lord Mayor’s parade on the first day of this first Test against New Zealand finished the journey on the dust-cart yesterday.

From the imposing position of 282 for one wicket overnight, the West Indies first innings declined rapidly, with the last nine wickets falling for 83 runs, and ended on 365 from 138.1 overs – when all the tenets of Test cricket would have suggested a dominating score of 400-plus.

Batsman-friendly

The visitors regained some of that lost ground when they had both New Zealand openers out at 67 for two, and put the match back on balance when leg-spinner Dianath Ramnarine took the third wicket at 107 with a googly, suggesting that the pitch may not remain batsman-friendly and that New Zealand’s stumps position of 113 for three was a mite precarious.

Had the West Indies innings maintained its new-style careful composure New Zealand might already have been played out of this Test.

However, the steady-as-it-goes policy – met with a much stronger attack from the best New Zealand bowlers Chris Cairns and Daniel Vettori – seemed to be discarded as the West Indian batsmen returned to some of the bad habits.

Ramnarine, the night-watchman, was very tentative at the start and his fishing outside the off-stump soon had him taken at the wicket off Cairns.

While Adrian Griffith stoically looked on at the other end Shivnarine Chanderpaul seemed to have worked his way into his usual profitable business when he flirted with a harmless medium-pacer from Nathan Astle and edged the catch to Stephen Fleming at first slip.

There was a buzz of interest when Brian Lara arrived, and gasps of delight or dismay, depending on the patriotism, when he seemed determined to hit every ball he received to the fence.

He hit Astle for three fours, Vettori for one, Paul Wiseman for another two, and after only 20 deliveries had 24 runs. Vettori, a cool-headed youngster, kept a full length and inevitably Lara miscued an attempted big hit and was caught at deep mid-off.

At the same score, 336, Griffith ended his 467-minute battle for 114 runs, and Powell started his Test career with a duck – hitting Cairns straight to Wiseman at mid-on.

Little good news

Three wickets had fallen in eight balls without any runs, and there was very little good news for the West Indies thereafter.

Jimmy Adams stuck fast for 17 not out in 84 minutes, but Ridley Jacobs, Franklyn Rose, Reon King and Courtney Walsh all went cheaply – with Walsh stretching his Test “duck” record to 33, nine ahead of the opposition.

Adams’ stay should have been more brief, for he was 12 and his innings had another 37 minutes to run when the English umpire, David Shepherd, failed to notice a fine touch from bat to pad, bringing a fierce and unsuccessful appeal from the New Zealanders.

From this wreckage Cairns took three for 73 with a much stronger performance and Vettori confirmed his talent and coolness under fire with four wickets for 83 from 34 overs.

The pitch, so controversial before the start, slumbered peacefully yesterday, and this was emphasised when neither Walsh nor Rose could produce any fireworks as New Zealand worked to navigate through 44 overs before stumps.

Twenty-one of those overs had gone by the time King broke Matt Horne’s patience, his first attempt to hook a bouncer floating the catch down to Rose near the long-leg fence.

Six runs later Gary Stead, earnestly trying to turn himself from a middle-order nudger of runs to a safe opener, moved just far across to expose his leg stump, and Walsh hit it to move within 11 wickets of Kapil Dev's world record.

Just when Craig Spearman and Fleming seemed likely to take their promising 40-run third-wicket stand into the third day Ramnarine spun his wrong ’un through Spearman’s “gate” and bowled him.

© The Barbados Nation