Windies crowd pleasers

Dozens of cricket fans waving Barbados, Jamaica, and Guyana flags, swarmed Kensington Oval yesterday afternoon as the West Indies, who had gone eight matches without a victory, finally broke the drought against India.

The end came at 1:11 p.m. when Stuart Williams' forcing back foot drive off Harbhajan Singh pierced the cover field for a boundary that provided the West Indies with a resounding ten-wicket win, achieved in three-and-a-half days.

Victories these days for the West Indies are as rare as Sahara rain and more than 1 500 fans were on the ground for the post-match ceremony. They screamed themselves hoarse when their heroes came out on the players' balcony with most of the adulation reserved for Guyanese Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, both of whom relished the chance to sign countless autographs.

Sarwan snatched his first two Test wickets with his first two balls yesterday and Chanderpaul made an unbeaten 100 on Saturday, but it was the tall, Trinidadian fast bowler Merv Dillon, who earned the vote from adjudicator Peter Lashley as Man Of The Match.

Dillon, who now has 90 Test scalps, gave the best performance of his 24-Test career, claiming eight wickets, four in both innings.

Prime Minister of Grenada Dr Keith Mitchell and principal-elect of the Cave Hill Campus, Professor Hilary Beckles, were among a crowd of 8 000 that saw Carl Hooper pull off his third win in 15 matches as captain.

It's great to see the boys win. We have a good record at Kensington and I was always confident we would do well here. I don't think we should make any changes though Williams and Gayle must know they have to perform, remarked one happy middle-aged man.

Ravi Shastri, the former Indian allrounder, who is covering the series as a television commentator, was disappointed with the Indian performance.

We just haven't played well in this match. They just blew it on the first day when our batting was pathetic. I still think it will be a close series, he said.

Raj Dhokia, an Indian lawyer, who lives and works in London, says he would like to see more fighting spirit from the Indians.

Dhokia, who watched the Test match from the Sir Garfield Sobers Stand with his brothers: Vijay, Mahesh and and Shiv, told the DAILY NATION that 95 per cent of the Indian side were upper class lads, who didn't need money from cricket to survive.

Most of these guys have a nice, relaxed lifestyle. There is no incentive for these guys, they have got it made. They don't need money from cricket, he said.

All four brothers expressed disgust at the standard of umpiring in this match and throughout the series so far. They are all hoping that two new umpires are chosen for the Antigua Test which starts Friday.