West Indies will be extremely satisfied with the opening day's play at the Kensington Oval. The Indian batting was poor, as they once again proved how vulnerable they are on fast pitches. They seem incapable of adjusting to surfaces that have a little extra bounce. They made the same mistakes here which they have previously made on pitches in South Africa and Australia.

This is one of the faster pitches in the West Indies, so there was no need for a special effort from the groundstaff to make it conducive for the quicker bowlers. I don't think that the West Indian bowlers were overly aggressive. It was more the nature of the surface that induced them to bowl a lot of short-pitched deliveries.

Mervyn Dillon was the pick of the bunch, bowling well throughout the innings and picking up four important wickets. Cameron Cuffy's first spell was unimpressive, but he came back well to dismiss VVS Laxman. Ridley Jacobs took two good catches on his recall to the side. Initially, the selectors had gone with Junior Murray because he batted very well in the Busta Cup, and they felt that he could strengthen the lower-order batting. Since this did not work, they went back to Jacobs.

It wasn't too much of a surprise that Carl Hooper decided to bowl first. Once you have picked four fast bowlers, you have to do that. It might have been different had Dinanath Ramnarine played. It was vital that the team picked up early wickets and kept the pressure on, because over the past five Tests, teams have averaged 380 in the first innings despite getting off to poor starts.

Stuart Williams showed yet again that he is not capable at this level. Ideally, Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan should open the innings, with Wavell Hinds coming in at No. 3.

Tomorrow, West Indies should just bat as if it's the first day of a Test match. They need not even think about India's 102. If the sun comes out and dries the surface, this pitch should be a beauty to bat on. If the batsmen apply themselves, there is nothing in the pitch that will prevent them getting past 300 and putting real pressure on India. Brian Lara was straight out into the middle to practise once the Indians were bowled out. He has been extremely focused since the beginning of this series, and it's only a matter of time before he gets a big one.

Michael Holding, a key member of the West Indies pace quartet of the 1970s and '80s, will be contributing the Wisden Verdict for all the Tests in this series. He was talking to Dhruv Mullick.

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