Bowlers praised for trying

There were 1,142 runs scored, five batsmen hit centuries and neither team was bowled out in their first innings.

But both the West Indies and India camps saluted the efforts put in by their suffering bowlers after the fourth Cable & Wireless cricket Test drifted to a tame draw here yesterday, the fifth and final day.

The West Indies eventually declared at 629 for nine in reply to India's equally imposing 513 for nine declared.

I thought the fast bowlers, all three of them, bowled their hearts out, Indian captain Sourav Ganguly said afterwards. They kept running in every time they bowled.

I think it is very encouraging for any captain to see your bowlers on a flattish wicket running in every time the ball was thrown to them and I think they did a fantastic job.

Veteran Javagal Srinath and his 23-year-old left-arm mates Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra combined to deliver 142 overs. Zaheer was the only one to reap reward, with two wickets.

But all three were eventually driven to frustration as the match drifted to its inevitable conclusion on the final day.

Srinath bowled the last of his 45 overs in the morning session and both Zaheer and Nehra decided to trundle slow left-arm for their last few overs.

Ganguly said the loss of his ace leg-spinner Anil Kumble had been a key blow to his team.

We were pretty unlucky to miss a spinner on this wicket, he said. But you can't do much with the injury Anil had.

There was a lot of rough on this track, the most I've seen in the West Indies so far.

Probably, if we would have had a spinner the game would have been a bit more interesting.

It was a great effort by him to bowl the 15 overs, Ganguly said.

He was 20 per cent fit and the way he bowled those overs was amazing. We could see there was something for the spinner.

The West Indies brought four fast bowlers into the match and sent in the Indians after winning the toss.

The wicket turned out to be a belter, West Indies captain Carl Hooper admitted.

You always seem to be wise after the event, but we gambled with four fast bowlers because we thought they did the job for us not only in Trinidad but in Barbados.