Close West Indies 449 for 8 dec and 35 for 0 drew with Railways 402 (Gowda 106, Khanolkar 102, Cuffy 4-84)
Scorecard

The three-day match between West Indies and Railways wound its way to an inevitable dreary draw, when both captains mercifully agreed to end the game 30 minutes before scheduled close of play. The only interest left – and even that was academic – in the contest was whether Railways would go past the West Indian first-innings total. They failed by 47 runs, despite a fluent 106 by Yere Gowda.

His century, and Cameron Cuffy's fiery spell in the first session, were the highlights on the third day. Cuffy seemed to have been stung by the way Railways' makeshift openers plundered the runs in the last session of day two. His second ball this morning speared through Murali Kartik's defence and crashed into off stump. Murali didn't add to his overnight 72.

Then, Cuffy nailed TP Singh and Jacob Martin in quick succession as Railways stumbled to 225 for 4. Maintaining an excellent line and moving the ball appreciably, Cuffy troubled all the batsmen and made a strong pitch to be included in the side for the third Test.

Gowda saw off the testing spell, and then tucked into the rest of the attack, which was minus Merv Dillon, Pedro Collins and Jermaine Lawson. Driving elegantly on the off side, and using his feet superbly against the spinners, Gowda showed the form which has made him one of the most prolific domestic batsmen in the last couple of seasons.

There was little support for him at the other end though. None of the others who batted today crossed 20, and Gowda was in danger of being denied a well-deserved century. He was finally ninth out, caught-behind off Mahendra Nagamootoo, and the innings folded up just two runs later.

Among the positives that West Indies could take away from this game were Chris Gayle's return to form with 154, and Cuffy's incisive form with the ball. Ryan Hinds spurned another opportunity to justify his place in the team though, and with Marlon Samuels failing with the bat too, West Indies might be tempted to draft in Daren Ganga for the Kolkata Test. Ganga scored an assured 71 and tackled the spinners with exemplary footwork.

While the batting and bowling were encouraging – at least in patches – the fielding continued to be a cause for concern. Two more regulation catches were dropped today – one each by Nagamootoo and Cuffy – to add to the couple of chances that Kartik got yesterday, and coach Roger Harper can only pray for a miracle cure to this epidemic at Kolkata.

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