Giles blunts Windies fightback

Ashley Giles took 3 wickets to regain the initiative for England after a fine West Indian bowling display restricted England to 568.

The much maligned left arm spinner dismissed Devon Smith, and more controversially Chris Gayle and Brian Lara in the space of 6 overs after England had endured a collapse of their own either side of lunch.

Resuming on 391-2, runs came freely to Robert Key and Michael Vaughan for the majority of the morning, as in spite of the slow over rate they hit 79 in the first hour, as Key registered his maiden first class double century and continued on to 221 before a fine catch by Lara allowed Dwayne Bravo to collect his first Test victim.

Bravo was the pick of the bowlers again on debut, and with 8 balls scheduled before lunch, he induced a poor shot from Graeme Thorpe, which Ridley Jacobs comfortably caught. Thorpe was gone for 19, and England were 527-4 when Andrew Flintoff walked to the middle.

What followed was a regression to the pre-2001 Flintoff school of batting as he played out the Bravo over, then a single from Vaughan gave him 5 balls from Omari Banks to survive before lunch.

With 3 men round the bat, Flintoff launched the first ball back over Banks head and over the ropes for a six that lead to Lara pulling his close fielders out.

The next ball was wide, and Flintoff attempted to give it the same treatment, but only succeeded in chopping the ball onto his stumps, leaving England 534-5, and Vaughan unbeaten on 90 at the interval.

Vaughan reaching his 12th Test century was the only moment of cheer for England in the afternoon session, as Pedro Collins bowled a lot fuller, and as a result picked up 4 wickets as England plummeted to 568 all out. The last 7 wickets fell in 11 overs for 41 runs, and where talk was looking at 700 or even more, the West Indies were buoyed by their fightback and when they went out to bat, Chris Gayle and Devon Smith wasted no time in showing how upbeat the side suddenly were.

They batted seemingly as if it were the first 15 overs of a One Day game, Gayle hitting four boundaries off one Steve Harmison over as he raced to 50 at more than run a ball, and the absence of Flintoff (although reports have come out that he may be fit to bowl in this game after all) meant that as early as the 9th over, Giles was called on to bowl.

The Warwickshire man helped slow the rate slightly before tea, which was taken at 83-0 from only 14 overs.

It was an opportune break for the English, as they came out with a lot more fight, and slowed the run rate even further, although wickets were still looking a long way off until Giles produced an absolute peach of a ball that turned and bowled Smith for 45, leaving the West Indies 118-1.

In his very next over, Giles dismissed the other opener, although this wicket owed more to a misjudgment from Daryl Harper as the ball hit Gayle's pad outside off stump while he was attempting a sweep shot.

At the other end Hoggard was giving Ramnaresh Sarwan no end of problems, and it came as no surprise that he dismissed the West Indies number 3 - there were no reasons to doubt that leg before decision.

With Lara in, Harmison was brought back, and at one point he thought he'd got his man yet again, as a swinging full toss hit the captain marginally outside leg stump. It was only appealed by the big Durham quick, but the replays showed that had his team-mates gone up with him, the umpire might have had a second look and given the wicket.

In the end for England it didn't matter, as in the very next over, Giles got one past his former county team-mate's outside edge. There was a noise as it passed Lara, and Geraint Jones led an appeal that Harper upheld - Lara was gone for 11 and his side had lost 4 wickets for 19 runs. Replays clearly showed that the noise was ball brushing pad, and hopefully the match referee will take that into account when reviewing the time it took Lara to leave the crease.

The home side's tails were up, with almost 20 overs to be bowled and only the debutante and the out-of-form Shivnarine Chanderpaul of the top order left.

Bravo however impressed for the second time in the game, and from the moment he casually drove his first ball to the boundary he looked every inch a Test Cricketer.

The pair managed to steady the ship and take their side through to the close with some solid batting, although Bravo did have a very lucky escape against Giles - the ball spinning up off his pad and catching the back of his bat on the follow through. The ball then arced through the air, narrowly missing the stumps, then landing about an inch from the glove of the bemused Jones - a more alert keeper would've taken that chance, and firmly put his side in control of the game.

As it was, Chanderpaul and Bravo were able to add 69, but will need a lot more if they're going to help their side avoid the follow-on - which is still 161 runs away.

England 568
(Key 221, Strauss 137, Vaughan 103, Collins 4-113, Bravo 3-74)
West Indies 208-4
(Gayle 66, Smith 45, Chanderpaul 41*, Bravo 30*, Giles 3-58)


Posted by Marc