A combination of factors contrived to thwart the West Indies' best efforts to get a decisive grip on the second Test against Zimbabwe yesterday.
Zimbabwe were eventually all out for 377 and the third day's play was ended prematurely by rain with the West Indies on 15 for one, a lead of 119.
Fidel Edwards, who has so rapidly developed into their main strike bowler, was limited to four overs within the first hour and then spent the remainder of the day on physiotherapist Sunit Liebenberg's table being treated for what was described as an `inflamed ankle'.
Further examination is required before it is known whether he can bowl again in the match, as he must, to add the bite to a limited attack in any press for victory on the final day. There was, as always, typically-spirited resistance from the Zimbabweans against more conventional tactics by Brian Lara than his mystifying chopping and changing of the previous afternoon.
Zimbabwe's fight came from No.3 Mark Vermuelen who turned his overnight 60 into his maiden Test hundred, 117, but more notably from Nos. 9, 10 and 11.
They raised 75 for the last two wickets at a time when Corey Collymore had worn himself out after two remarkable spells of controlled, fast-medium swing and seam bowling that deserved better than his final figures of four for 70.
Collymore's only blemish in eight overs at the start and nine overs immediately after lunch were seven no-balls, one of which was a yorker that plucked out Vermuelen's middle-stump after he had added a single to his overnight 60.
So reprieved, the steady, 24-year-old right-hander proceeded to hold the innings together with an otherwise chance-less marathon that occupied seven and a half hours and 304 balls, all told.
More than anything, the West Indies were stymied by umpiring that, to give it the kindest possible interpretation, was inconsistent.
Three clear-cut lbw claims against Zimbabwean batsmen were rejected at decisive periods. Yet a dubious appeal was granted against Chris Gayle to the first ball of the West Indies' brief second innings late in the day.
When Tatenda Taibu, Zimbabwe's tiny wicket-keeper, came in at 201 for five, three-quarters of an hour into the day, he was pinned on the back foot in front of middle stump by Collymore first ball.
Somehow umpire Simon Taufel turned down the concerted appeal. Taibu then batted for an hour and 50 minutes to add 78 with Vermuelen.
Andy Blignaut, the dangerous No.9, had not scored when Collymore, during his second stint, struck him in front of middle and off with a full-length ball that pitched in line. Again Taufel could not be convinced. Blignaut stayed another hour and 20 minutes, made 31 and added 34 with No. 10, Ray Price.
Midway through Price's irksome last wicket stand of 41 with Blessing Mahwire, Rudi Koertzen turned down Merv Dillon's authentic lbw appeal against Mahwire.
When the West Indies went for the second innings with a lead of 104 after Zimbabwe were finally dismissed for 377, Koertzen straightaway ruled Gayle lbw to Heath Streak, even though the tall left-hander's front foot was so far forward there had to be considerable doubt whether it would have taken off-stump.
All teams have to deal with such days but they are especially distressing to a team with an abysmal away-record and desperate not only to end it but to compensate for its abysmal performance in the first Test they barely managed to save.
When the encircling thunderstorms finally arrived at the Queen's Sports Club to end play after three overs of their second innings with 18 of the allocated 21 still available, the West Indies still held the advantage.
Their goal would be to build it to at least 350 fast enough to give their moderate bowling adequate time to press for victory on a slow, if wearing pitch.
Their solitary spinner, the inexperienced, 21-year-old Omari Banks, could make little impression with his off-breaks through 34 overs on the day, divided into two spells.
His flight and turn were minimal, his direction astray. For the third time in his five Tests, he was taken for more than 100 runs.
The top eight in Zimbabwe's order are right-handed so the considerable rough at both ends is outside their leg-stumps and of little use to him.
It is, on the other hand, ready-made for Price, Zimbabwe's left-arm spinner, to exploit against the five left-handers in the West Indies' top seven.
With 10 wickets in the first Test and five in the first innings here, he will need careful attention today.
A draw would retain the status quo position at the tail-end of the International Cricket Council's Test rankings where the West Indies are above only Zimbabwe and Bangladesh.
But only a victory to erase the embarrassment of the first Test and to carry to the tougher assignment of four Tests in South Africa that immediately follow, would do for Brian Lara.
Those plans had to be put on hold on the second afternoon as Craig Wishart and Vermuelen built a partnership worth 142 at the start when Zimbabwe 173 for three.
For eight overs without an identifiable bad ball as opposed to no balls, Collymore put the batsmen under pressure with his probing accuracy and movement.
He cut one back to find Wishart on the back foot in front of middle stump, Taufel, confirming the batsman's disappointment to fall for 96, a belligerent hand that took the initiative away from the West Indies the previous day.
Collymore reserved his best delivery for Stuart Mazakenyeri. Angled in, it moved away on pitch to pass outside the bat and clip off-stump.
He would have been on a hat-trick but for Taufel's refusal of his feasible first ball shout against Taibu and he had to wait until Lara summoned him for a second go immediately after lunch to eventually get his man.
The first ball of the session found Taibu's outside edge for a low second slip catch.
When Streak was lbw to Merv Dillon and Vermuelen's marathon was unluckily ended by a deflection from his pad into the leg-stump from off-spinner Omari Banks, the West Indies led by 192.
But Blignaut, Price and Mahwire substantially reduced it with bold batting.
Denied an hour and a quarter earlier, Collymore had his just reward in his first over of a third spell as Taufel at last ruled against Blignaut on the lbw claim.
By now, Collymore was a spent force and Price took the chance to spoil his figures by walloping three fours in an over and another in the next as the lively, singing supporters who had cheered Zimbabwe on throughout the day danced with delight.
Banks finally snared him to a bat-pad catch but not before he and Mahwire had batted through the extended tea interval and further frustrated the opponents.