Dreary draw in Port of Spain Test

Tests these days aren't meant to end like this.

By the time Sachin Tendulkar and Courtney Walsh called off play 50 minutes after tea on the last day of the Queens Park Oval Test, the spectators were ready to drop down dead with boredom.

Sure, a draw was expected at the end of play on Monday evening. Stuart Williams and Shivnarine Chanderpaul's combined tenacity coupled with pretty ordinary Indian bowling had ensured that the West Indies had rescued the second Test after yielding the initiative to the Indians for most of the game's duration.

Cricket in the Caribbean is as capricious as Mulayam Singh's moods though, and one still felt that a few lucky strikes on Tuesday morning -- the way Ambrose and Dhillon had done the previous morning -- could usher in just that unexpected twist to the match.

But perhaps we harked back to another era when the guiles and magic of the Fab Four could confound and eventually vanquish any team even if it had names like Greenidge, Lloyd and Richards emblazoning it.

Sure, Kumble occasionally turned the ball on a pitch which Geoff Boycott felt had less life than a corpse, but that was not enough. The Indian vice-captain had about as much penetration as an Italian spy infiltrating the Kremlin.

Williams and Chanderpaul negotiated Messrs Kumble, Prasad, Laxman, Joshi and Kuruvilla so easily that an hour after play began on Tuesday the only points of interest were whether the two West Indians would get their maiden Test hundreds. Williams had not scored one in 14 Tests, but Chanderpaul, who has hit 13 fifties in 18 Tests, was clearly the more deserving candidate.

In the end, the slender Guyanese son of a fisherman of Indian origin fell as he does so often after he gets his half century -- to a swish to slip, 21 runs short of a hundred.

Williams had already notched up that milestone a couple of balls before lunch. The Leewards batsman was eventually caught by Kumble for 128 (452 minutes, 299 balls, 11 fours and a six). Chanderpaul and his record (for this ground) partnership of 176 had ensured safety for their team.

The West Indies eventually ended the day at 299 for six, with 18 overs still to be bowled. Though they lost four wickets for 29 runs either side of tea, the match, by then, was comatose, with no signs of revival.

Brian Lara, who has intriguingly never made a Test hundred at his home ground, was awkward and made only 19. Shaping up to pull Kumble, he tried to opt out of the shot, but the ball caught the shoulder of his bat, giving Azharuddin his second catch of the day at slip.

Carl Hooper (14) and Roland Holder (9), the Windies first innings hero, were both taken by V V S Laxman, Rahul Dravid having retired hurt after being struck by a fullblooded Williams stroke at silly point.

Joshi had the best figures for India, taking three for 57 off 36 overs. Kumble took two wickets for 109 to add to his five first innings wickets.

Expectedly, Navjot Sidhu was named man of the match. No one deserved it better than the lanky Sardar who in his 11-hour innings of 201 had made the long trek from condemnation to celebration.

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