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Whoever said the West Indies' fast bowlers were no good?

The evidence wasn't at Kensington Oval yesterday. In sharp contrast, they were almost devastating.

And the spearhead of what many refer to as a modest attack is brushing aside suggestions that there is often a lack of effort from he and his fellow fast bowling colleagues.

Mervyn Dillon, who impressively led the West Indies' charge on the opening day of the third Cable & Wireless Test against India, could seemingly do nothing wrong on the day.

Kensington Oval almost erupted when he bowled Shiv Sunder Das with the first ball of the match, and there were plenty of West Indian celebrations all the through the Indian innings which ended with stupendous catch by the tall Trinidadian on the third-man fence.

India, sent in on a ground where they have lost six of their previous seven Tests, once more endured nightmares and were shot out for 102.

Often accused of inconsistency, Dillon took four for 41 in setting the West Indies on course for a series-leveling win.

It was a rare occasion since the retirement of Courtney Walsh that the West Indies have limited opposition to such an extent. Six times in their last nine matches, they have conceded totals of more than 450.

"Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh are always going to be big shoes to fill.

"[But] we go out there to try every day," Dillon said.

"It might not always seem that way to you guys, but we go out there to give 100 per cent and hopefully we can keep giving this sort of performance that we did today (yesterday).

West Indies, beaten by 37 runs in the second Test at the Queen's Park Oval, know they cannot afford to slip up here and Dillon, along with Cameron Cuffy, Adam Sanford and Pedro Collins, justified Carl Hooper's decision to bowl first on a day in which there were four stoppages for rain.

"We're playing four seamers and we always wanted a chance to get at them early," Dillon said.

"We were not quite certain how the pitch was going to play. The wicket didn't look very well. It's dry, but it did have a little bit of assistance there for us early in the morning and we made use of it.

"We were always very positive. We are one down and we're really looking to push it in this game. We definitely want to leave here and even the series."

West Indies were backed up by safe catching, mainly from recalled wicket-keeper Ridley Jacobs who held three catches, but the most spectacular display of the day was Dillon's amazing catch at third-man where he barely managed to keep his body inside the boundary after tumbling over.

His break-dancing skills as a youngster, he said, might have had something to do with.

"I sort of misread it early. Coming back was quite close, but I somehow managed to keep myself from the rope."

© Barbados Nation