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 in this game, but India "A"'s batsmen are proving to be very resolute indeed.

Having led the visiting India "A" team by 63 runs of first innings, the West Indies "A" had restricted India "A" to 54 - 1 after 18 overs at the end of day 3, with the not out batsmen being Jacob Martin, promoted to No. 3, with an enterprising 36 and opener Gagan Khoda, with a patient 14.

The day began with much prospect for Antigua & Barbuda and the Leeward Islands batsman, Sylvester Joseph, who was not out on 56 overnight, and young Barbadian Ryan Hinds, who was not out overnight on two, the West Indies "A" 131-4.

India "A", though, did not have to wait long for their first success of the 3rd day. In the 3rd over of the day, with the score on 134, and having only added 2 to his overnight score, Joseph drove at a slower ball from pacer Dodda Ganesh, only to present a simple catch to Murali Kartik, fielding at extra-cover. Joseph out for 58, West Indies "A" 134-5 in over 58, Ganesh's

third wicket.

A brisk and extremely mature partnership of 114 between Hinds and his new partner, Rawl Lewis, then ensued. Lewis is a very aggressive lower middle order batsman and it showed. By the time the partnership and both innings had been completed, both batsmen had recorded their best first class score.

Lunch was taken with West Indies "A" 189-5, with Lewis 19 and Hinds 37.

Lewis then pummeled the bowling to all quarters of the ground and eventually became the 6th wicket, but not before he had made a delightful 64, which included six 4's, one 6 and a 7 (three run plus four overthrows). He only faced 129 deliveries for his 64. His previous best first class score had been 59 in Pakistan in 1997/8.

Lewis was finally outfoxed by the persevering Murali Kartik, who had the batsman plumb lbw with the "arm ball", the batsman being on the back foot. West India "A" 248-6 in over 106.

India "A" had taken the second new ball after 93 overs, but got no immediate success from it. It was left to the steady orthodox leg-spinner, Kartik, to do the honors for India "A".

Hinds, just 18 years old, playing in his first year of first class cricket, impressed tremendously with his maturity. He never 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 first class half century, but his highest score to date, surpassing his 58 against Trinidad & Tobago earlier this year.

Tea was taken with the West Indies "A" 267-6, with Hinds 62 and McLean 1.

Hinds batted for 263 minutes and faced 182 deliveries, hitting six 4's and one six, and then became just too ambitious. He tried to drive Kartik over his head, only succeeding in lofting a comfortable 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 had Nixon McLean bowled, off the pads, for one. West Indies "A" 268-8.

Wayne Phillip, West Indies "A" wicket keeper, should have been the next wicket, as he was badly dropped by the energetic but so far, not so impressive India "A" wicket-keeper, Sameer Dighe. The bowler was Harvinder Singh Sodhi and Phillip had only made 3 then. 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 had already dropped Nixon McLean from a presented return catch.

Kartik quickly ended West Indies "A" innings, getting the last two wickets and ending with excellent and well deserved figures of 6-75 from 35.2 overs. Kartik is very similar in style to Sunil Joshi, another Indian spinner. I predict that it would not be long before we see Kartik in Test cricket.

Firstly, he had Dwight Mais nicely stumped by Dighe for 4, West Indies "A" 277-9 in over 116, then he repeated the sequence by having last man Goldwyn Prince also stumped for 7, the West Indies "A" all out for 289, a healthy lead of 63.

In their second innings, India "A" lost a wicket in the very first over. Nixon McLean, bowling at a full length for a change, hit the pads of Sridharan Sriram with the pads very adjacent to the stumps, out LBW for no score, India "A" 3-1.

Jacob Martin, one of India "A"'s more experienced international cricketers, 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 gloomy and poor to continue, still with 5 overs of the day's allotment to be completed, Martin had stroked his way to 36 not out, including three 4's, while his less adventurous partner, Gagan Khoda, could only manage 14.

Martin was dropped, a simple return catch to Rawl Lewis when the score was 51-1 and Martin's score 24. He and India "A live to fight into the 4th and final day.

A draw is the likely result now.

© CI