One had to see it to believe it! The crumbled cookie was not a pretty sight. The dancing West Indian team led by their skipper Chris Gayle were though.
The situation could have been even more bleak looking (as hard as that is to imagine) had it not been for Andrew Flintoff getting stuck in a little bit longer than the average stay by any other England batsman at the crease in the second innings of the first Test in Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica.
The scenes, sounds and mayhem that erupted around the ground as Jerome Taylor drew the England batsmen into his snare was deafening and must have been pretty petrifying to the England batsmen who could no longer see right from wrong.
The manner in which the West Indies roared on the back of a seventy-four run lead in their second innings was not only inspiring but also, a classic reminder to the England team of what they could have drawn from deposed captain Kevin Pietersen’s defiant ninety-seven during England’s first innings.
On the contrary, West Indies panned out more promisingly over their own first innings undeterred that England had still posted 318 after Matt Prior came good with sixty-four and Ryan Sidebottom dished out twenty-seven from his own meager batting kitty.
It was the 202 run partnership for the second wicket between skipper Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan, who both scored centuries, that really gave the West Indies the foundation. But it was Brendon Nash’s half century in partnerships with wicket keeper Denesh Ramdin and later with Suleiman Benn that gave West Indies the vital lead of seventy-four in the Test, overshadowing Stuart Broad’s five wicket haul for the innings.
But even that, it was not expected that England would collapse as horribly as they did. While good bowling from the five wicket man Jerome Taylor and Darren Powell was a pertinent reason, there was little in the pitch to suggest that the game had become unplayable. England though appeared to have seen defeat even before they faced up to bat. The chaos that followed will become a nightmare they would not like to relive too many times.
England were pressing for history in the wrong direction even as the England commentators that included former cricketers prayed there would be a resurrection. But the fall of wickets had perhaps stunned the dressing room into thinking and believing in the devil as seven wickets went down on the fourth day’s play in quick team to leave the England team reeling at 7 for twenty-three.
It was not the ideal way for Andrew Strauss to begin his career as England’s captain and one can only wonder after all the fall outs surrounding Pietersen and Peter Moores, what the repercussions could be!
Flintoff’s delayed exit added up a few more runs to push them to fifty-one but even this task was too much for a single man as England went down by an innings and twenty-three to a West Indies side that, as Gayle put it, got their batting and bowling act together for perhaps the first time to truly see the pay offs!
A Rash Move Undoes Pietersen and England Again!
IPL Auctions: The Predictable Four ‘Big Fish’
Troubled England Take on Transitional WI
Andy Flowers–Little Inclination to become “The Coach”
Eye on Auction; Trading Window Sees Little Business
Flower Speaks Up about Kevin, Assistant Coach Drama
Andrew Strauss gives Kevin Personal Responsibility
Strauss Fights off IPL Dilemma and England Allegiance
Andrew John Strauss– The Captain with a wee bit too much on his Platter
Flintoff - Unapologetic about Not Supporting KP; Trains Gun on Strauss
Why Pietersen lost his captaincy battle and Moores his coaching post
Tony Greig Feels for Suffering Pietersen
We Were Odd Couple, Admits Kevin Pietersen
Be Careful Of Dressing Room Divisions– Strauss Warned
“ECB Buffoons in Blazers” Declares Ian Botham
Kevin Pieterson in Strauss’s Good Books but not in Nasser’s
Warne calls KP’s Coach Call a Bluff!
