England’s Chances Slim

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31586, 25 January 1968, Page 9

England’s Chances Slim

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter —Copyright) PORT OF SPAIN (Trinidad). Rain foiled England yesterday after it had narrowly won the battle to force the West Indies to follow on in the first test match of the tour. Losing their last three wickets to the pace bowler, J. Jones, who had two stitches in his hand, West Indies were all out at tea for 363 —six runs short of the score needed to make England bat again. But a torrential rainstorm broke over the ground during the interval and ended play for the day With only five hours and a half of play left today, England’s chances of forcing victory look slim. Lloyd A Century The left-hander, C. Lloyd, made a century for West Indies yesterday on his debut, and with 282 for four on the board after lunch West Indies looked sure to avert any fol-low-on. The last six wickets fell for only 81 runs after lunch with Jones finishing the innings by taking the last three wickets, in spite of his injured hand, in a spell which cost him only six runs. Among Jones’s victims in this four-over spell was Lloyd, who hit 118 in 273 minutes in a sparkling innings which included a six and 17 fours. At the end of the innings

the rest of the England team stood back to allow Jones to lead the way into the pavilion. Lloyd is only the fourth West Indian to make a century on his debut against England, following in the footsteps of G. Headley, A. Ganteaume, and the late C. Smith. At lunch there was no hint that West Indies were in danger of following on. K. Barrington and F. Titmus had tied down Lloyd and G. Sobers for the last hour before the interval, but they seemed ominously at ease. Within 15 minutes of the resumption Sobers mishooked a ball and was caught, and then D. Holford ran himself out. With six wickets now down for 294, the stage was set for the thrilling finish

which Jones won for Eng-, land. The morning’s play had belonged to the West Indies, with Lloyd and R. Kanhai taking their fourth-wicket stand to 116 before Kanhai fell for 85, scored in 250 minutes with the aid of eight boundaries. Crowd Roared Tremendous excitement built up in the crowd towards the end of the West Indies innings, with every delivery and every run drawing roars from the Spectators. The promise of a continuation of the drama after tea was washed out by the tremendous thunderstorm which before long had the outfield covered with pools of water, and drowned England’s chances of taking full advantage of the edge it had won by forcing a follow-on. Scores:—

ENGLAND First Innings .. 568 WEST INDIES First Innings S. Nurse c Graveney b Titmus 41 S. Comacho c Graveney b Brown 22 R. Kanhai c Cowdrey b D’Oliveira .. 85 B. Butcher lbw b Brown .. 14 C. Lioyd b Jones .. ..118 G. Sobers c Graveney b Barrington 17 D. Holford run out . . 4 D. Murray c D’Oliveira b Hobbs 16 C. Griffith c Parks b Jones 18 W. Hall not out 10 L. Gibbs b Jones 1 Extras (byes 4, leg-byes 6, no-balls 7) ..17

Total 363 Fall of wickets: one for 50. two for 102, three for 124, four for 240, five for 290, six for 294, seven for 329, eight for 352, nine for 357.

Bowling: Brown, 22 overs, 3 maidens, 65 runs, 2 wickets; Jones. 19, 5, 63. 3; D’Oliveria, 27, 13, 49. 1; Titmus. 34. 9. 91, I: Hobbs, 15, 1, 34, 1; Barrington, 18. 6, 44, 1.