LONDON, England (CMC) - Shivnarine Chanderpaul just missed out on joining Michael Vaughan in scoring centuries in both innings of the match, and it was the England captain and his teammates who were all smiles in completing a 210-run victory over the West Indies 15 minutes before tea on the final day of the first cricket Test at Lord’s yesterday.
Having scored an unbeaten 128 in the first innings, the gritty left-hander was left stranded on 97 when Andrew Flintoff claimed the final wicket of the match, Fidel Edwards being caught behind as the visitors were dismissed for 267 after being set an improbable target of 478.
Their more realistic prospects of earning a draw hinged on the overnight pair of Chanderpaul and Brian Lara, but it was the dismissal of the West Indies captain by Ashley Giles that paved the way for England’s fourth victory in as many Tests this summer and their fourth win in five Tests against the Caribbean side.
In bowling Lara with a delivery than spun sharply and hit the champion batsman’s middle stump, Giles had claimed a momentous 100th Test wicket.
The left-arm spinner, whose inclusion in England’s final 11 was questioned by many experts, claimed five for 81 - his first five-wicket haul in a Test on home soil.
In a match that produced a series of outstanding batting performances, Giles’ match analysis of nine for 210 earned him the man-of-the-match award.
The loss, West Indies’ 42nd in Tests in less than seven years, was merely a continuation of their recent trend of starting a series badly.
Having conceded 391 for two on the opening day after Lara chose to field, they were always up against it and were not helped by occasional moments of thoughtless cricket that again highlighted the lack of professionalism and pride from some players at the highest level of the game.
With just two days to regroup before the second Test begins on Thursday in Birmingham, team management must not only attempt to lift morale, but will also need to assess the fitness of at least two players.
As so often happens after a monumental batting performance by him, Chanderpaul may be a question mark for the next match after being hit painfully on the right elbow by a lifting delivery from Matthew Hoggard and then left hobbling by a blow to the inside of the right knee inflicted by Simon Jones.
Yet nothing could shake his resilience and powers of concentration as wickets fell around him. His innings spanned four hours, 152 deliveries and included 18 fours, a succession of which came in the final moments of the innings with Edwards trying desperately to hold on at the other end.
Edwards’ effort contrasted sharply with his wild swipe in the first innings when Chanderpaul was also at the other end, but Tino Best had already done enough to leave the few diehard West Indians in the stands feeling a deep sense of shame and despair.
Unable to bowl for most of England’s second innings with a lower back muscle injury, Best charged down the pitch at Giles and was stumped by some distance for three, a display that bordered on criminal irresponsibility and put England on the verge of victory at 203 for eight.
Pedro Collins magnified his compatriot’s recklessness in defying the opposition for almost an hour, lifting Chanderpaul’s hopes of reaching three figures and becoming only the second player after Sri Lanka’s Aravinda de Silva to score unbeaten hundreds in the same Test.
The left-hander was just on 43 when Best perished, and as he fought to reach the landmark, few would have denied that he deserved to reach it.
But Collins eventually succumbed to the temptations of Giles, being stumped for two, and when Flintoff administered the final rites, Chanderpaul limped off the field to a standing ovation from a crowd of about 10 000.
The few hopeful West Indian fans among them would have seen the gathering clouds and light rain that delayed the start of play by 10 minutes.
Even though the conditions remained overcast, there was no more rain to save the visitors, leaving it up to the batsmen to do the job.
Lara and Chanderpaul battled through most of the morning, extending their fourth-wicket partnership to 70, before Giles broke through.
The West Indies captain, on 44, advanced down the pitch to the spinner and was comprehensively beaten by what the bowler later described as one of the best deliveries he has ever bowled.
Continuing to turn the ball sharply out of the bowlers’ footmarks, he proved too much of a challenge for Dwayne Bravo, who pushed a catch back to Giles and departed for just 10.
The scent of collapse was in the air when just before lunch, Ridley Jacobs edged Hoggard to Graham Thorpe at third slip to make the score 195 for six.
Steve Harmison then bowled Omari Banks almost immediately upon the resumption and with Best’s moment of madness just minutes later, West Indies were in a depressingly familiar downward spiral as four wickets had crashed for just nine runs.
Collins’ resilience and Edwards’ determination in partnerships with Chanderpaul showed just what could have been possible with a more concerted team effort.
It remains to be seen if they can summon that sort of spirit at Edgbaston from Thursday.
ENGLAND 1st innings 568 (R. Key 221, A. Strauss 137, M. Vaughan 103; P. Collins 4-113)
WEST INDIES 1st innings 416 (S. Chanderpaul 128 not out; A. Giles 4-129)
ENGLAND 2nd innings 325 for five declared (M. Vaughan 101 not out)
WEST INDIES 2nd innings (on 114 for three)
C. Gayle b Harmison 81
D. Smith lbw b Giles 6
R. Sarwan lbw b Hoggard 4
B. Lara b Giles 44
S. Chanderpaul not out 97
D. Bravo c and b Giles 10
R. Jacobs c Thorpe b Hoggard 1
O. Banks b Harmison 0
T. Best stp. G. Jones b Giles 3
P. Collins stp. G. Jones b Giles 2
F. Edwards c wkpr G. Jones b Flintoff 2
Extras: (b-5, lb-9, nb-3) 17
Total: (all out) 267
Fall of wickets: 1-24, 2-35, 3-102, 4-172, 5-194, 6-195, 7-200, 8-203, 9-247.
Bowling: Hoggard 14-2-65-2, Harmison 21-2-78-2, Giles 35-9-81-5, S. Jones 8-3-29-0, Flintoff 1.3-1-0-1.