England batsman Mark Butcher said yesterday going back out to bat after the scheduled close of play was a no-win situation.
Butcher and Nasser Hussain had batted England out of trouble taking the score from 33-2 to 145-2 at tea.
Hussain had just begun to free himself taking advantage of Chris Gayle's only over, the final one before tea to push his score to 40. Then came an almost two-hour delay because of rain and many expected play to be over for the day. But the umpires had a long look at the situation and decided that the players must come out at 5pm which they did. Butcher who was dismissed for 58 after being dropped on 56 two balls earlier was asked if the gloomy conditions contributed to his downfall.
"To be honest it was probably gloomy before," was his candid response.
Butcher also praised the West Indies new twin terrors terrible Tino Best and Fidel Edwards.
"They bowled quickly and bowled well," Butcher said .
The batsman said the two Barbadian bowlers surprised him since they were "very different from West Indies bowlers who tend to be tall. "They are a little short in stature and they make the ball skid at you a little more. They are very different from West Indian bowlers of old." he said adding that it was tough work as he had never batted against them before.