Part II: Fond memories from Port of SpainSunil Gavaskar’s favourite ground abroad is the Queen’s Park Oval inPort of Spain, for good reason. But then again, why Gavaskar’s alone?It would probably rank among the favourite foreign venues of manyother Indian cricketers too. After all, where else has Indiaregistered two famous Test victories abroad? If the win in 1971 wassignificant and historic, the triumph five years later was, to put itsimply, one of the greatest in the history of Test cricket, verily amiracle.When India took the field on the opening day of the second Test of the1971 series, it was the 25th encounter between the two countries, andIndia had not won any of the previous 24. Indeed, in 23 Tests, Indiahad not even taken the first innings lead and had achieved this featonly in the previous Test at Kingston. Given their infamous recordabroad, the visitors were given little chance of winning the secondTest, but it was reckoned that a draw was not beyond them.

The first signs that India could emerge victorious came on the firstday when West Indies were all out for 214. Now the onus was on theIndian batsmen to consolidate the good work done by the bowlers, and a21-year-old debutant named Sunil Gavaskar provided the perfectspringboard with a patient 65. Ashok Mankad came good with a valuable44, and the two put on 68 runs for the first wicket. The in-form DilipSardesai, who had scored a double hundred in the previous Test, thistime got 112 and with Eknath Solkar (55) added 114 runs for the fifthwicket. Despite the Herculean performance of Jack Noreiga, the offspinner who took nine for 95, India obtained a first innings lead of138 runs. But, by scoring 150 for one in their second innings bystumps on the third day, West Indies came back strongly.The match seemed to hang in the balance as the fourth day commenced,but first Salim Durrani and then Srinivas Venkatraghavan got among thewickets. The veteran left-arm spinner dismissed Clive Lloyd andGarfield Sobers (for a duck) in one over, and then the off-spinnerpolished off the tail. West Indies were bowled out for 261, leavingIndia to get only 124 runs for victory. Not wasting any time, theIndians, spearheaded by another fine innings by Gavaskar (67 not out),who capped a memorable debut by hitting the winning boundary, werehome shortly before stumps on the penultimate day for the loss of justthree wickets. It was the sole decisive result of the five-matchrubber, and that is why the 1971 Port of Spain triumph is doublyfamous.Historic as that victory was, it pales before the scale of achievementof the 1976 triumph. The third Test of the four-match series was tohave been played at Georgetown but was shifted to Port of Spainbecause of incessant rain in Guyana. West Indies, already one up inthe series, led off with 359, thanks in the main to a mighty 177 byVivian Richards, then in the midst of the golden run that was to gethim a record 1710 runs during the year.When India were all out for 228, West Indies had all the time in theworld to consolidate, which they did admirably. With AlvinKallicharran getting an unbeaten 103, Lloyd was able to declare at 271for six, midway through the afternoon of the fourth day. This leftIndia a victory target of 403, in the face of which the chase seemedjust a formality. West Indies had ample opportunity to register theirsecond victory of the series ­ which would have given them the rubber­ and it would have been a Herculean effort for India to even draw thematch. After all, there had been only one precedent in nearly 800 Testmatches of a team scoring over 400 runs to win, and that was in 1948when the Australians, led by Bradman, defeated England at Leeds.However, displaying a positive, never-say-die attitude, the Indianspicked up the gauntlet. Openers Gavaskar and Anshuman Gaekwad, pairedtogether for the first time, put on 69 runs; then Gavaskar andMohinder Amarnath added 108 runs for the second wicket. The dismissalof Gavaskar for 102 at 177 early on the final morning was a majorblow, but Gundappa Viswanath and Amarnath brought the target firmlyinto focus by figuring in a third-wicket association of 159 runs.”India planned their tactics with the perfection of a cricketingLester Piggott, ” Tony Cozier was to write later. Believing that notarget was beyond them, the Indians relentlessly pushed on towardsglory. After Viswanath left, having made 112, Amarnath, who had playedthe sheet anchor role to perfection, and Brijesh Patel carried theIndians to the doorstep of victory before the former was run out for85, made in 442 minutes.By the time he left, though, an unbelievable victory was just roundthe corner, and Patel (49 not out) hastened it with some splendidshots, the winning runs being hit with seven of the 20 mandatory oversstill left. The closing total of 406 for four set a record for thehighest score ever to win a Test match. It still constitutes one ofthe most remarkable victories in Test cricket and, for many, it isstill India’s greatest ever triumph.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) today played down reports of arift between themselves and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)over the fixture list for the Indian tour of England in 2002.Despite the fact that the itinerary has been agreed in writing by the Indianboard, there are now suggestions that they want to play only three Tests andnot the scheduled four. This is in response to the fact that NasserHussain’s team is only playing three Tests on the current tour and have fiveone-day internationals on the agreed itinerary after Christmas.The BCCI have asked England to play two more one-dayers, but the ECB have refused to add to the existing schedule. The Indian threat of a reduced number of Tests next summer came in response to the ECB position with regard to theproposal for an extended fixture list on their ODI tour. The ECB insist that the Indians had given a written commitment to play four Tests, adding the itinerary was “non-negotiable” at this late stage.”We have made all arrangements for the tour and even started selling ticketsfor the four Tests,” ECB spokesman David Clarke said in Mumbai.”The ECB is adamant India will play all four Tests, the itinerary isnon-negotiable.”The ECB said the then secretary of the BCCI, Jayawant Lele, had confirmed ina letter dated April 5 that India will play four Tests and a limited-overstriangular series also featuring Sri Lanka.The current situation arose when there were significant changes in thehierarchy of Indian cricket. Lele was not re-elected secretary, and a newpresident, Jagmohan Dalmiya, has re-emerged as the leading player innegotiations.Dalmiya, a former president of the International Cricket Council (ICC), hadmade the request for England to play two extra one-dayers when he met ECBofficials during the ICC meetings in Kuala Lumpur in October.Dalmiya argued that India will play seven matches in the one-day series inEngland next year if they reached the final, and he wanted the ECB toreciprocate the same on their tour of India, BCCI sources said.”England said their players were busy and needed a rest. Well, our playerstoo need a rest,” new BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah said.ECB’s Clarke rebuffed Shah, saying, “Since 1998, it has been clear therewould be an imbalance in the numbers of games on these two tours. It’s toolate to change the schedule.”The ICC has proposed fines of up to US$2 million if fixtures in the Testcalendar are not honoured, but the proposal has yet to be ratified.

West Indies finally had cause for some celebration in Sri Lanka with theirfirst win of the tour at Premadasa International Stadium on Tuesday nightwhen they defeated Sri Lanka by 49 runs.It was a victory greeted with more relief than elation and whilst the champagne corks were not whizzing around the dressing, the win has certainly boosted their flagging morale.Their hard-earned victory was founded upon a solid top order battingperformance that saw them post a competitive 251 target and an especiallyspirited effort in the field, led by man of the match Corey Collymore whopicked up five wickets and career best figures.The slightly built fast bowler, called onto the tour for the one-daymatches, ripped through the Sri Lankan middle and lower order, as the homeside lost their last six wickets for 17 runs and were eventually bowled outfor 201.Sri Lanka had been cruising towards the West Indies total after theircavalier openers, Sanath Jayasuriya and Avishka Gunawardene, had smashed 82runs off the first 15 overs.But West Indies players, so uninspiring in the field against Zimbabwe onSunday when they looked like they had thrown in the white towel, firstfought themselves back into the game thanks to the efforts of their slowbowlers.Carl Hooper came into the attack in the eighth over and gradually pulledback the initiative in a crucial five over spell that yielded just sevenruns.Left-arm spinner Neil McGarrell then replaced his captain and dismissedGunwardene fourth ball. The broad-shouldered left-hander shuffled down thewicket and was stumped for 38 (92 for one).Jayasuriya was still going strong though at the other end, reaching his 46thone-day fifty off 60 balls and then hoisting McGarrel for four boundariesand one six over wide mid-on.But Jayasuriya, playing in his 248th one-day game, made a crucial mistakewhen he tried to scramble a quick single and left Atapattu yards short ofhis crease (119 for two).Thirteen minutes later West Indian’s now burgeoning self-belief wasbolstered further when Mahela Jawardene slashed wildly at a delivery fromPedro Collins to be caught behind for two and Jayasuriya top-edged a sweepto be caught at short fine leg for 83 (138 for four).Kumar Sangakkara and Russel Arnold, needing a further 113 runs in 22.4overs, steadied the innings with a 46 run stand in 52 balls and were oncourse for victory when Sangakkara smeared unnecessarily across the line andwas caught behind to give Colleymore the first of his five wickets (184 forfive).Sri Lanka then crumbled as Colleymore, bowling with an energetic re-modeledopen-chested action, tore into the lower order.Suresh Perera was brilliantly caught behind by Jacobs for four as he aimedan extravagant cover drive and Kumar Dharmasena prodded diffidently to bedismissed in a similar manner two balls later.In the next over Russel Arnold was adjudged lbw, harshly, as he tried tosweep a delivery from Chris Gayle. Chaminda Vaas and Nuwan Zoysa werequickly mopped up by Colleymore to give him his first five-wicket haul andJacobs a world record equaling six victims behind the stumps.Earlier in the day West Indies had won the toss and batted on a surface thattraditional favours the side batting first – the highest score successfullychased in 46 one-day matches here is just 243.Nevertheless, the Sri Lanka bowlers helped the West Indian cause evenfurther by starting poorly, even Vaas who uncharacteristically bowled twowides in his opening spell.Gayle made a quickfire 21, his first runs in five innings, but it was BrianLara with a serene 44-ball half century and Daren Ganga with a fluent 58 who laid the foundations for a large score.The pair added 74 in 72 balls for the second wicket before Ganga, who hadbeen dropped earlier in the slips and given not out after walking for acatch behind, was run out.Ramnaresh Sarwan, though, gave Lara solid support and at one stage WestIndies, on 151 for two with 23 overs remaining and then 209 for three withten overs to spare, looked set for a score in excess of 270.But Sri Lanka’s slow bowlers pulled the West Indies back in the final tenovers, taking six wickets and conceding just 41 runs. In the event, itproved immaterial.

International and Auckland all-rounder Dion Nash has been suspended from all cricket from December 22-January 3 following a code of conduct hearing during the Otago-Auckland State Championship match which ended in Dunedin today.New Zealand Cricket chief executive Martin Snedden announced tonight that Otago code of conduct commissioner John Henderson imposed the penalty after a hearing last night in which Nash was cited by umpires Dave Quested and Steve Dunne for unacceptable behaviour to an umpire and unacceptable language toward a player.The umpire concerned was Quested.Nash will miss a State Championship match and the first two State Shield one-day, games that are to play a big role in the selection of the New Zealand one-day team to return to Australia for the VB Series.Snedden said he would not comment on the finding as there was a right to seek leave to appeal the suspension which is required to be done within 48 hours.Snedden said NZC also had the right to appeal but he added he would not be appealing the decision.If an appeal was received it would be doubt with as quickly as possible and would depend on the availability of national code of conduct commissioner Nick Davidson, especially so close to Christmas.If necessary the appeal could be dealt with by way of telephone conference.Snedden said he met with coaches and players before the start of the season and told them NZC was wanting to see an improvement in all levels of behaviour in cricket in New Zealand.He thought that wish had been reflected in the fantastic conduct of the CLEAR Black Caps under pressure during the third Test against Australia in Perth.”I also made it clear I would be encouraging association commissioners and the national commissioner to apply appropriate penalties.”And I said that when it happened they would have the backing of NZC,” he said.

Cadnam wasted a great opportunity to go to the top of the New Forest Indoor League as they collapsed against title rivals Lymington. Having skittled their opponents for a measly 82 (Matt Molloy 32), Cadnam had progressed to 65 for 3, and with plenty of overs remaining looked set for victory.However, Richard Bull’s run out set the alarm bells ringing, and in the following over ex-Lymington wicketkeeper Mike Caffyn was caught and bowled by Trevor Phillips for 27. The final wicket fell just two balls later as Lymington sealed an unlikely 13 run victory.Paultons’ wretched season continued as they were beaten by 4 wickets by Esso. Scot Weaver’s unbeaten 25 was the feature of Paultons’ 97 for 4. Andy Collins then took 2 wickets, but it was to no avail as Andy Parratt (25) guided Esso home in the final over.There was a bizarre conclusion to the Division Two match between Ringwood and Pylewell Park. Chasing Ringwood’s 125 for 4, Pylewell were on the verge of victory when a collision between batsman Peter Sturmey and a fielder led to Ringwood conceding the match.Cadnam Seconds look set for promotion to Division One and underlined this with a 34 run victory over Lymington Seconds. Cadnam – the only unbeaten side in all three divisions – totalled 134 for 5. Paul Jewar (55no) was once again the star of the innings and he received good support from Nick Dunning (30) and Alan Dunning (20).Tony Thorp (25no) and Tommy Carter (23) batted well for Lymington, but tight bowling, particularly from Alan Dunning (2-22), restricted them to 99 for 3.The race for the Division Three title is hotting up with just two points separating the top three teams. Bashley Seconds moved into third place thanks to the 6 wicket defeat of Milford-on-Sea Seconds.The Seasiders had struggled to 79 all out with Dave Morris and Stuart Waite both taking two wickets. Waite then led the reply with an unbeaten 26 as Bashley cruised home in the eighth over.The final match of the day saw Pennington register only their second win of the season. Opponents Esso Fourths were dismissed for just 83 (Kevin Mitchell 32) with James Clarke taking 2 for 20. Shaun Hilton gave the Oilmen hope with 3 for 15, but Jerry Rickman proved impossible to dislodge as Pennington reached their target with one over and two wickets to spare.

SHARJAH – Pakistan recovered from a disastrous start of three for 15, to overhaul a modest West Indies target of 191 with four wickets and almost four overs to spare to maintain their winning streak here in the first of the three one-dayers. It indeed was the depth in their batting which saved the day for the Pakistanis, as Afridi, Youhana, Latif and Razzaq all played little cameos to guide Pakistan towards victory.As three wickets went down quickly, it seemed that Pakistan would once again make a mess of the run chase. The West Indies must have sniffed a chance, but everyone lower down the order made a contribution to dash their hopes, and Razzaq’s (unconquered 46, 41 balls, 5 fours, 1 six) lusty hitting at the fag end sealed the issue, making it look comfortable in the bargain.For his splendid all-round effort, Razzaq was named Man of the Match.Though Pakistan survived the scare to win the match, lots of credit must be given the West Indies; they at least made a fist of it – something the Windies seemed singularly incapable of in recent encounters.After being shot out for 190, the Caribbeans were off to a dream start as Naved Latif slashed at Merv Dillon in the opening over, Ridley Jacobs pouching the snick. Next over, Younis Khan played one to mid-off and scampered for a quick single and we saw Corey Collymore’s beating him in photo finish. Inzamam ul Haq, out of sorts and out of form, pottered around for 20 deliveries for his one run before Cameron Cuffy had him caught by Darren Ganga at mid-wicket.Afridi, who had lofted Cuffy over extra cover in the second over, with emphasis now on staying at the wicket, curbed his aggressive instincts to steady the ship in association with Yousuf Youhana. Right when it seemed that Pakistan was out of the woods and the stand between the two had flourished to 47, Afridi, who was by now shedding his inhibitions, lofted Darrel Brown down to Collymore for a fine running catch at the square leg fence.Youhana by now had played himself in and with Rashid Latif started playing some exquisite strokes, especially off his legs and the most attractive stand of the innings ensued. The two kept stroking their way, not in the main through boundaries but singles, twos and threes. The 100 was posted in the 30th over and the runs were now coming in a steady stream. Again when the Pakistan camp was breathing easy, Hooper snapped up Youhana, caught and bowled. Another stand of 40-plus had failed to progress further.Latif and Razzaq kept the momentum going, and though Rashid fell, caught at the square leg fence, after a very well made 47 (58 balls, 4 fours), Razzaq stood there, solid as a rock, sending Dillon’s first delivery of the 47th over crashing into the mid-wicket fence for victory. He was also judged the man of the match for his 2 wickets and an unbeaten 46.Earlier, on a superb batting wicket, winning the toss and electing to bat first, after a rather bright start, the West Indies lost the plot completely, to end up with a wholly insufficient 190 with nine deliveries of the regulation 50 overs remaining unutilised.With Chris Gayle taking the attack to the Pakistan bowlers in a stroke-filled innings of 50, they seemed destined to greater things. But that was not to be, and Pakistan managed to extend their winning streak to 10 successive games in overs-limited cricket.Making a comeback, Akram started off with a wide, and was despatched to the point boundary next ball by Darren Ganga. A couple of overs later, Waqar was treated similarly by Ganga, and the West Indies innings seemed off to a confident and brisk start. It was at this point that Ganga, playing from way inside the crease trod onto his stumps to give Waqar and Pakistan the first wicket. Wavell Hinds replaced him, and straightaway flicked Akram to the fine leg boundary for four. Hinds was dropped by Inzamam off Akram, an easy one in the slips, and though he hit the next ball for four to the square leg fence, he was not to benefit from this lapse. With the 50 of the innings already on the board, Shoaib Akhtar was brought on first change, and he immediately obliged his skipper with a wicket, Hinds caught at point by Younis Khan. Rated as the best all-round fielder of the team by coach Mudassar Nazar, Younis held onto the ball that was streaking to the boundary in a second attempt after it had bounced out.By now Gayle was in his element, and with skipper Hooper watching him from the other end, he unleashed a dazzling array of strokes, predominantly in front of the wicket and mostly on the off side. He was especially severe on a tiring Akram, hitting him for three boundaries in his seventh over – one gloriously on-driven for four, next audaciously put away in extra cover region, nearly taking Afridi’s head along with it, and yet another delivery off-driven to the boundary. Razzaq was given a taste of the same medicine, driven for fours to long-on and extra cover in his first over, and off-driven for four in the next.But Razzaq had his man in his third over, though not before Gayle reached his 50 (52 balls, 10 fours). It was a casual, perhaps over-confident shot, and to Gayle’s utter dismay it rattled the stumps – perishing right when he seemed to be most threatening. One soft dismissal followed another, as Chanderpaul holed out first ball to Afridi at mid-wicket.This double blow literally took the wind out of the Caribbeans’ sails, and to make an already bad situation worse, Ryan Hinds ran himself out, not grounding his bat after he was sent back by Hooper from midway down the pitch as Akram and Rashid Latif combined to ensure his demise.Happily-placed at 95 for 2 in 18 overs, the Windies were reduced to 117 for five in 25. What followed was drab, lacklustre cricket, with Hooper and Jacobs intent on not losing another wicket, and the Pakistan attack choking them for scoring opportunities. Such was the sway of Pakistan bowling in this part of the innings that there were absolutely no boundaries; while 16 fours were struck in the first 17 overs, there were none between 22 and 45.A well-set Hooper (45, 81 balls, 3 fours) was trapped leg before by Shahid Afridi in his first over of the second spell. His departure, in the 40th over, well and truly put paid to West Indies’ hopes of putting up a competitive total. Jacobs’ (25, 57 balls) following him three overs later, bowled behind his legs while he clumsily essayed a sweep, didn’t help matters at all. There was no flurry from the tail, though Brown clouted Saqlain for a six over mid-wicket, but he was gone two balls later – reverse sweeping into the hands of a highly dependable Younis Khan at point. A leaping Inzamam pulled off a stunner at mid-wicket off Akram to send back Dillon, and Cuffy was run-out by Yousuf Youhana to bring the curtain down on a rather unsatisfactory display by the Caribbeans.

Time is running out for new members to sign up to join Somerset County Cricket Club at the discounted rates because as from March 1st the full membership rates will apply.The office at the County Ground was open yesterday morning to provide the opportunity for those last-minute bargain hunters to sign up to join the Cidermen for 2002 at a reduced price.Yesterday Lisa and Lucy were in reception to greet visitors and deal with membership applications. At the end of the morning Lisa told me: “Despite the wet and windy weather we had a steady flow of personal callers and telephone applications throughout the three hours that we were open.”Membership figures at the club are at an all-time high for this time of year and it looks as if the Cidermen could be in for a record-breaking season as far as membership is concerned.Any website readers who want to join up at the discounted rates need to do so by the end of the day on Thursday February 28th, and can do so by clicking on to the membership section listed on the main menu.It seems that everybody wants to be part of a winning team and join the Somerset players in their quest for even more success in 2002.

Wellington showed great composure under pressure to deny Otago a long overdue win in a nail-biting finish to their State Shield match at Alexandra today.Otago has suffered some close losses to Wellington in recent times but it seemed that this time they would come out on top.Wellington had different ideas, and the advantage of knowing how to handle a tight situation.Earlier, Otago had asked Wellington to bat first, and the northerners made a sound start courtesy of some attacking play from Chris Nevin. He scored 42 off 57 balls as Wellington reached 79 in the 21st over before Nevin was out to Warren McSkimming’s bowling.But the experienced Wellington top order kept the pressure on with Matthew Bell scoring 57, albeit off 116 balls which was not the sort of pace he would have been wanting to score at. When Bell was out in the 40th over, there was a chance for Wellington to really kick on from their position of 163 for three wickets.And while Wellington did reach 233, scoring at nearly seven an over through the last 10, they would have been disappointed not to have scored more. As it was, it took a timely piece of batting from Matthew Walker who scored 37 not out off 22 balls to get the total to its final position.James McMillan and Shayne O’Connor came in for some treatment from the batsmen. O’Connor finishing with one for 54 and McMillan two for 51 from their 10 overs while McSkimming took two for 45 from his 10. The most economical of the Otago bowlers proved to be Jeff Wilson who took one for 32 from his 10.Andrew Hore provided a blast to Otago’s chase when scoring 15 off 11 balls but it needed a more sustained assault to give the side the perfect start. But the side were well placed with Craig Cumming in good touch in scoring 33 off 53 balls and seeing the score to 105 when he was the second wicket to fall in the 21st over.By the 30th over, Mohammad Wasim had played a steadying hand scoring 70 off 94 balls before he was trapped leg before wicket by James Franklin.With four overs to play, Otago, with wickets in hand should have got home with time to spare. They were 209/4, needing another 25 needed to win.But some tight bowling from the Wellingtonians pegged back the difference between the sides.Four runs came off the 46th over bowled by left-arm slow bowler Mark Jefferson. Then five came off the 47th over bowled by Walker. Jefferson only conceded four off the 48th and amazingly only two runs came off the 49th bowled by Walker. He completed his 10 overs and finished with one for 45.Ash Turner was especially troublesome for the batsmen and he was entrusted with the last over.Ten runs were needed but Marcel McKenzie and McSkimming could do no better than a leg bye and two singles off the first three balls. When the fourth ball was not scored off, Otago needed a miracle and Wellington were not about to concede them one.Turner showed good composure and ended his nine overs with two for 35, and Wellington had come through again, to claim the win by two runs.