After securing their first series win in the Caribbean for 36 years, Brian Lara’s world record score of 400 not-out and a poor batting display from England in the first innings looked set to scratch some of the lustre off an outstanding month’s work by Michael Vaughan’s side.
But in the end England’s gritty batting and the most docile of pitches proved too much for the West Indies bowlers to overcome. But he is not the specialist Lara seeks.Like England, the West Indies will find it difficult dismissing opponents on flat, bare surfaces that offer no pace, no bounce, no movement.. But their value is in defensive control, not wicket-taking on such featherbeds.He delayed summoning the new ball for eight overs and had success himself when he tried his leg-spin.Sarwan’s leg-spin was more than useful as a teenager but, as so many other batsmen have done, he has ignored it in adulthood.Like Gayle and Hinds, he gives his captain an alterative when the total is mounting and something different is required.As yesterday, he has had a few useful Test wickets – Herschelle Gibbs and Gary Kirsten twice in South Africa, Andrew Flintoff here. The effort was proving far more difficult second time round as Vaughan and Marcus Trescothick settled in to their opening partnership of 182.Pedro Collins, Fidel Edwards, Corey Collymore and Tino Best maintained the full length and direct line such conditions demanded, but they found the surface as unsympathetic as England had done.Ramnaresh Sarwan, leading the West Indies in Lara’s absence, identified the need for variety and turned to Ryan Hinds and Chris Gayle. Frustrated by his lack of opportunity, he retired last year, aged 28, to concentrate on his role as head of the Players’ Association.The latest is Dave Mohammed, a left-arm chinaman and googly specialist, but he has been overlooked since his solitary Test against South Africa in Cape Town last January.He would have been helpful yesterday, but there are presently no other realistic option in domestic cricket.As Michael Vaughan and his mates began to follow Lara’s lead and appreciate the bounty offered by the placid pitch, the West Indies attack cried out for someone practised in the art of flight, turn, bounce and control.Their fast bowlers had done as well as was to be expected in keeping England down to a modest first innings total.

It has been stymied for two valid, if frustrating, reasons.One is the selectors’ continuing mindset for pace and pure pace, a hangover from the days when as many as half a dozen genuinely fast and quality bowlers were available at any one time. The other is the absence of spin bowlers of Test potential.The last given a reasonable run was Dinanath Ramnarine who had 25 wickets in 12 Tests between 1998 and 2001. As Brian Lara watched on from the team room, his legs still cramping from the effects of his 13-hour batting marathon, he would have rued the absence of a worthy spinner on his bowling staff.
The West Indies captain has repeatedly referred to his preference for a balanced attack. A repeat of the bumper crowds for the month-long event, the final of which is at Edgbaston on 7 August, will prompt the ECB to look at expansion for 2005 and hasten the arrival of an international competition along similar lines.. The loss of Damien Martyn to a knee injury is a blow but his replacement, David Hussey, has been in high-scoring form for Victoria.With David Byas returning to Headingley as coach, Yorkshire fancy themselves to bounce back but the arrival of Ian Harvey and Darren Lehmann as overseas players gives them the look of a good one-day side, particularly with Craig White as captain.Gloucestershire, winners of the National League and the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy, will hope to maintain their dominance in that area, although with Harvey, Jonty Rhodes and coach John Bracewell gone, it will be much harder this time.The brightest spotlight will be on the Twenty20 competition after its successful introduction last year.

They look to have a stronger squad this time, which should ensure Yorkshire’s experience – a championship followed by relegation – is not repeated on the south coast. The arrival of Ian Ward from Surrey is a mark of the respect they now command while the addition of the former Pakistan Test bowler Mohammad Akram, now qualified by residence as a domestic player, adds depth to their bowling resources.Sussex will give a fair crack to retaining their crown, with Surrey in their wake again, although there is confidence in the north that the waiting may be over for Lancashire, whose high-scoring side was denied largely by the weather last year. Whatever happens, a domestic programme that is logically structured and easy to follow – which as it stands it is not – is essential.For the moment, however, the game must be played as it is and the fixture planners could not have come up with a tastier first course than Surrey against Sussex, whose opening Championship meeting begins at The Oval tomorrow.The burden of expectation is something new for Sussex after winning the title for the first time. The revived contest of champion county against the MCC gave the English season its earliest start yet on a shivery Good Friday. Tomorrow, with no noticeable fanfare, the race for prizes in the Frizzell County Championship will begin.
It is nothing new for the national summer game to announce its return apologetically.