Caribbean Lads All at Sea Against Spin
The Trinidad and Tobago Schools team was still smarting from the crushing defeat it had suffered at the hands of their Indian counterparts in 1981, on their home ground. Arriving on Indian shores, the visitors were determined to erase the painful memory of that earlier setback.
That tour had virtually marked the beginning of the careers of at least three Indian youngsters: Sivaramakrishnan, Chetan Sharma and Maninder Singh. All three went on to reach the highest levels of national cricket. The two visiting officials, Mr. Allan John Ramnarine, manager, and Mr. Lalman Kovlessar, assistant manager and coach, were equally confident about their players’ potential.
Both officials praised the youngsters and expressed hope that, by the end of the current tour, some of their boys would also attract recognition, just as their Indian counterparts had done. They pointed out that Larry Gomes and Augustine Logie, both members of the national team, had exerted a tremendous influence on the younger players.
“We have two players from our islands in the national team — Larry Gomes and Augustine Logie, both of whom have a tremendous influence on our youngsters,” they said.
A Severe Shock
However, the visitors suffered a rude awakening in their very first match of the tour when they went down to the Indian Schools by an innings and 61 runs in the opening three-day Test at Trivandrum. The defeat came with most of the final day still remaining.
The coach was quick to attribute the disappointing result to a lack of match practice, explaining that heavy rain had disrupted the team’s preparations before the tour.
“The players are a bit rusty, but they are sure to pick up as the tour progresses,” he said. He nevertheless felt that the boys would need to demonstrate considerably greater determination if they hoped to develop into a winning combination.
It was a contest in which the Indian youngsters were never under pressure. Neither the visiting batsmen could cope comfortably with the Indian bowling attack, nor could the visitors’ friendly spin bowlers trouble the Indian batsmen to the extent they had hoped.
The Caribbean players’ natural inclination towards attacking stroke play was evident from the very first ball. Their approach, however, lacked the discipline needed to succeed against a well-organised Indian side. The visitors initially handled the medium pace of Jespal Singh and Sanjay Bhatia reasonably well, but the introduction of the spinners by skipper Anju Mudkavi changed the course of the match. Once the slow bowlers were brought into the attack and employed intelligently, wickets began to fall.
A Collapse
David Mohammad won the toss and elected to bat on a pitch that offered little pace and turned slowly. With crowds of schoolchildren gathering to watch the match, the conditions were ideal for the Indian bowlers to make their mark.
Jaspal Singh and Bhatia began by removing the shine from the ball and even managed to dislodge opener Roger Dabideen. The spinners then tightened their grip, leaving the visiting batsmen struggling to find an answer.
Apart from Jackson (43), Lanky (34) and, to some extent, opener David Ramnarine (28), none of the batsmen could face the turning ball with any real confidence. The visitors were eventually dismissed for 142, just before tea.
A Hat-Trick
Leg-spinner Hyder bamboozled the batsmen with sharp turn and googlies, while left-arm spinner Goil maintained a teasing length and line. Goil came within two consecutive deliveries of achieving a hat-trick in his final over. He eventually claimed the rare distinction of taking a wicket with his very first ball in the second innings of a match involving the Trinidad and Tobago Schools team.
The Indian reply began in explosive fashion. Gurinder Singh, in particular, was harsh on the speedster Douglas, whose 30-yard run-up generated considerable pace but offered little movement off the pitch. The Indian openers encountered few problems in dealing with him.
Mudkavi, however, looked shaky, and after Gurinder had scored a brisk 26, he too followed soon after.
A Run Spree: The next phase of the Indian innings belonged to Bihar youngster Amrik Dayal and Tamil Nadu’s M. Senthilnathan, who came together at the crease. The left-handed Dayal displayed grace and composure, while the Udumalpet youngster Senthilnathan unleashed powerful strokes all around the wicket.
Neither pace nor spin could unsettle the pair as they launched a remarkable scoring assault. By the close of play, they had carried India past the visitors’ first-innings total, reaching 149 in just 29 overs, compared with the 58 overs taken by Trinidad and Tobago Schools to score their runs.
Senthilnathan raced to his century before Dayal reached the milestone the following morning. His dazzling innings, which later earned him the Man of the Match award, came to an end at 107 when he dragged an away-going delivery from off-spinner Sooker onto his stumps. Senthilnathan struck twenty-one fours during his innings.
Together with Dayal, who was then batting on 94, he added 161 runs for the third wicket.
Dayal, who had experience playing in the Derbyshire county league, took a more measured approach as he closed in on three figures. He even survived a stumping chance when approaching his century. He eventually departed for 106, an innings featuring twelve fours and a well-timed six.
With the two batsmen having contributed the bulk of the runs, the remaining Indian batsmen squandered their wickets while attempting to accelerate the scoring. India were eventually dismissed for 357, approximately 40 minutes before tea.
Left-arm spinner Sooker, whose main strength lay in varying his flight rather than relying on turn, finished with four wickets for 110 runs.
In their second innings, the Trinidad and Tobago Schools team continued to struggle. Wickets fell at regular intervals as the Indian spinners once again dominated proceedings. By the close of play, the visitors had slumped to 115 for seven, still needing another 100 runs to avoid an innings defeat.
The Indian youngsters required barely half an hour on the final morning to claim the remaining three wickets and complete a convincing victory.
The Scores
Trinidad and Tobago Schools — First Innings: 142
Jackson 43, Bishop 34, V. Goil 4 for 34, David Ramnarine 35, David Mohammad 32.
Indian Schools — First Innings: 357
Amrik Dayal 106, M. Senthilnathan 107, Sooker 4 for 110.
Reported by S. R. Suryanarayan
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