W.I. cruise to victory

Press, 20 February 1986, Page 40

W.I. cruise to victory

NZPA-Reuter Kingston, Jamaica The West Indies, spearheaded by their fearsome pace quartet, cruised to a six-wicket victory over England with 13 balls to spare in the opening oneday cricket international. England scored 145, after being put in on the lively and unpredictable Sabina Park pitch. It was immediately in trouble when the newcomer, Patrick Patterson, yorked Tim Robinson without scoring. Then the captain, David Gower, failed again when he was caught at slip by his opposite number, Viv Richards, without scoring, again off Patterson, and the tourists were in deep trouble. Worse was to come when the vice-captain, Mike Gatting, the batting success of the tour so far, went to hook Malcolm Marshall when he had scored 10. Gatting was smashed on the nose and the ball fell on to his stumps as he reeled away with blood streaming from his face. He was helped from the field and taken to hospital where it was later confirmed that his nose was broken and he would not be fit for the first Test starting tomorrow. “It is a nasty break and Mike is not too pretty at present,” said the manager, Tony Brown. “It will be a few days before the swelling goes down and only then will we know how long he is out for.” England reached its total from 46 overs thanks to solid innings from Graham Gooch (36), Allan

Lamb (30) and Peter Willey (26). Lamb and Willey struggled at first but then took all sorts of risks in a fifth-wicket stand of 62. Then Marshall returned and dismissed both with successive balls to finish with the best figures of four for 23 from his 10 overs. West Indies was never troubled, although all the England bowlers tried hard with the off-spinner, John Emburey, in particular, bowling accurately and skilfully. Emburey conceded only 19 runs from his 10 overs but the tourists never had nearly enough runs to play with. Gordon Greenidge (45) and Desmond Haynes (35) added 84 for the first wicket and West Indies did not require the services of Richards who injured a finger fielding and dropped himself down the order.