Kholi’s men disappointed with no play on day two

Aug 20, 2016 Sports

By Sean Devers in Trinidad
In association with Cascadia Hotel
& Lifetime Real Estate

West Indies’ highest score on this ground against India is 526-7 declared but that was in 1971 when Garfield Sobers (132), Charlie Davis (105) and Maurice Foster, who was bowled by Abid Ali for 99, all amassed big scores

The umpires inspect the outfield at Queen’s Park Oval, West Indies v India, 4th Test, Port of Spain, 2nd day, August 19, 2016 ©AFP

in the drawn Test.
But with the home team on 62-2 at the close of the rain ruined opening day in which only 22 overs were bowled and without Lloyd, Kanhai, Sobers, Davis or Foster in their line-up, Virat Kholi’s side must have still been confident of pressing for only their fourth win at the Queens Park Oval in 13 Tests between the two sides when the teams turned up yesterday morning in bright sunshine.
But despite hot sun during the first two sessions of day two of the fourth and final Test, the day’s play was officially called off at 14:30hrs due to wet areas in the outfield without a ball being bowled.
According to the ground staff poor drainage was the primary cause for no play being possible yesterday.
To make matters worse the first shower for the day came about 10 minutes (it was a short one) after play was abandon for the day making it very unlikely for an early start today as India desperately needs enough time to force a win to become the World’s number one Test team.
The entire day was lost due to rain in the third Test in St Lucia and India still managed to win by 237 runs but the possibility of a result here is now looking very unlikely even with the West Indies batting line-up prone to dramatic collapses like the last one in St Lucia when the last seven West Indian wickets tumbled for 31 runs.
“We have had quite a few firsts in the last one year. On day 5 in Jamaica, we understood what we did wrong. Test cricket is all about 5-6 overs, your body language. The team that does it in a sustained way generally wins. Losing almost two days here is frustrating,” Kholi stated.
The West Indies opted to bat on a slow track and lost two wickets in the first session on Thursday and having already lost the series 2-nil a draw would not be a bad result in this match, especially since the West Indies batting is very inconsistent.
Kraigg Brathwaite, who has shown great Test match temperament, is still there on 32 and with him is Marlon Samuels on four but the loss of Leon Johnson (9) and Darren Bravo (10) in the space of 17 runs after he and Johnson had survived the new ball attack would have been very unfortunate for the Bajan opener.
Scores: West Indies 62 for 2 (Brathwaite 32*) v India.

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