Related Links : West Indies in England 2007 : Scorecard
West Indies are struggling at 132 for 4 in the 40.4 overs that have been bowled in the first two days of the fourth test. Ryan Sidebottom has taken two wickets out of the four to fall. West Indies are fighting back though through the partnership between Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Dwayne Bravo.
The Test Match finally got underway during the second session of the second day with Michael Vaughan winning the toss and inviting Windies to bat first. It was the worst ever start for the tourists with their Captain Ganga walking back to the pavilion after just the first ball of the match. Sidebottom had got Ganga caught at bat pad with a sharp incoming delivery. With three fours and a six, Chris Gayle looked as if he was taking the counter attack mode but he was in no time done in by Matthew Hoggard. Gayle was trapped lbw which is not the first time in this series. His contribution was 28. In the next over which was the 9th over, Devon Smith did the cardinal mistake of shouldering arms to a delivery that was coming in from the left armer Sidebottom to be bowled. That left the Windies at 34 for 3.
Harmison, who wasn’t given the new ball today came to the party as well chipping in with the wicket of Runako Morton. Windies somehow could prevent England from taking any more wickets in the day with Chanderpaul and Bravo doing the repair work. Chanderpaul was dropped very early in his innings by Ian Bell in the slips. Play was called off an hour after the tea break because of bad light. Chanderpaul had got 44 from 91 with 7 fours and Bravo got 43 from 79 with 6 fours by then. The 40.4 overs were mostly bowled by the three quicks. Monty Panesar was used for just the couple of overs.
West Indies had made two changes in this match. Jerome Taylor who was dropped from the One Day Squad was ignored for this match! The other change was Marlon Samuels getting in for the injured Denesh Ramdin. It was just a few days back when Samuels had complained to the Team Manager of not being treated properly by the Coach. Samuels had written a letter which was leaked which said that he wasn’t getting proper batting practice in the nets. With all these problems, West Indies may not be in a good position to beat England but with rain interfering for two days, there could be a chance for forcing a draw atleast.