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The West Indian cricketers may have sang as the rain foiled a strong New Zealand bid for victory on the fourth day of the first cricket Test at WestpacTrust Park yesterday.

But they would not be chanting hymns of praise about the lamentable batting that may still bring their defeat if the weather aids New Zealand today.

On a pitch still of amiable pace, West Indies lost their first three second innings wickets in the morning for only one run in the space of 20 balls.

This was almost as disastrous as England’s loss of four wickets for two runs at the Wanderers earlier this month, from which England never recovered.

The threat of defeat loomed even closer when a fourth wicket was lost at 36, and Adrian Griffith and Jimmy Adams had to dig in until the rain finished play for the day at 66 for four wickets.

Sherwin Campbell could plead that Chris Cairns bowled two very nasty in-swingers in the first over of the day, with the opener just failing to give an inside-edge catch from the first, and getting an inside-edge into his stumps with the second.

In Cairns’ next over Shivnarine Chanderpaul was drawn into a prod at an outswinger, and the catch carried safely to Adam Parore.

Two wickets for no runs, Cairns two wickets in six balls. The situation cried out for cool-headed defence in the crisis, for dogged work to repair the early damage.

Instead, Brian Lara, who had thrown away his wicket when trying to hit fours all over the place in the first innings, could manage only a single before he launched an over-ambitious drive at Dion Nash.

Lara’s feet went straight down the pitch while the bat carved an arc toward cover. A schoolboy might have been excused such leaden-footed nonsense, but not a batsman of Lara’s class in such a desperate situation for his team.

Predictably the ball feathered from the edge of Lara’s wild swing and into Parore’s hands.

No wonder the New Zealanders pranced around in total joy, West Indies three for one run, still 27 runs short of the hosts’ overall total, the one batsman who might take the initiative from them dying by his own hand.

Then came another mistake. The situation required cool-headed experience. Griffith was stoically runless but reasonably safe at one end, and someone like Adams was needed to shore up the other end.

Instead West Indies sent in Ricardo Powell, a dashing young batsman, but in his first Test and without the tight-fisted defensive skill the situation demanded.

Powell batted the only way he knows, going for his shots, even taking risks. His first six scoring strokes were fours, and he was 26 in a partnership of 29 with the other three being no-balls, for Griffith was as active as a statue.

After a brief break for rain Powell’s luck ran out. He drove inside a turning ball from Daniel Vettori and Craig Spearman had an easy catch at slip.

As the heavy grey clouds rolled in, Griffith and Adams defended stoutly and without too many false strokes. Time did not matter – Griffith was 129 minutes over his 14 runs which contained a four, a three, a two and five singles. Adams also made 14, in the comparatively rapid time of 59 minutes.

An attempt to play extra time, with a scheduled finished at 8 p.m. local time, was foiled when heavy rain set in about 5:30 p.m. An hour has been added to the last day, with play scheduled to run from 11:30 a.m. (6:30 p.m. Barbados time yesterday) to 7:30 p.m.

There is the prospect the West Indians, only 38 runs in profit, will need a steady start from Griffith and Adams and at least four hours’ solid batting on the last day if they want to save the game. Such determination would enable them to leave this Test with the dignity of a draw.

© The Barbados Nation