In a region of remarkable Test matches, conducted in an atmosphere second to none, Queen's Park Oval, throbbing to the soca beat of a disco in the new, three-tier stand and the honking of the conch shells, witnessed a day as dramatic as any. By the close of the first day, the third Test was poised, no advantage to either side, as the game teetered dramatically from one extreme to the other.
Inspired first of all by the indefatigable Angus Fraser, and later by Andy Caddick, England, having gambled by putting West Indies in to bat, came back from the brink of despair to bowl them out for 159, the last nine wickets falling after lunch for 66.
Fraser, rumbling in from the same Pavilion End of the ground from which he claimed the bulk of his 11 wickets in the previous Test earlier in the week, took the final wicket of the innings to finish with 5 for 40, including the vital ones of Carl Hooper for 1, to an astounding catch by Mark Butcher, and Brian Lara, who had threatened to run riot, hitting seven boundaries in his 42.
After tea, Caddick, who had suffered earlier brutality at the hand of Lara, found his rhythm, and, with his confidence pouring back into him, produced an irresistible spell of 4 wickets for four runs in 7 balls. He too finished with 5 wickets, for 67, the fifth time he has taken five in a Test innings.
It left England 20 overs to bat on a sunlit, raucous evening filled with the anticipation of a stirring response from Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose, whom Lara had, in effect, snubbed in the second innings last Sunday by giving the new ball to Benjamin and McLean.
The mighty duo did not disappoint. Mike Atherton, unusually jittery, was leg before wicket in Ambrose's second over, and John Crawley beaten off the pitch and bowled by him for a single. In between times, Alec Stewart was missed at slip by Lara off Walsh when 3, but survived, not without alarm, to be 16 not out, as England reached 22 for two.
By the time Caddick had completed the first over after lunch - which produced 19 runs for Brian Lara and Sherwin Campbell - the scoreboard read 93 for one and Atherton's misgivings about putting the West Indies in, must have been gnawing away.
Both Dean Headley and Caddick had produced frustratingly lacklustre opening bursts, and although Caddick changed ends with such immediate effect that he had Stuart Williams caught low down at first slip with his opening delivery, Lara drove his first ball to the long off boundary and for the next hour and a half, and with Campbell's solid support, then played with such authority that England might have capitulated.
Instead, Fraser, through sheer perseverance, grabbed the game by the throat. It began with the first ball of a new spell which Campbell, after the second wicket had produced 57, edged low to Thorpe at first slip, and continued with one of the most stunning catches imaginable as Hooper, greeted by the crowd, not without justification, as a hero, played a loose drive towards point. It went uppishly but appeared safe until Butcher flung himself high to his right, stuck out a hand and caught the ball.
Such catches inspire players to greater deeds, and two overs later Fraser struck the crucial blow, when Lara, overconfident perhaps, attempted to pull from outside off stump - a loose stroke of no great conviction - and under edged low to Jack Russell. Fraser had taken 3 for 4 in 18 balls. Tea was taken at 127 for four.
It was the final session that produced the most remarkable cricket, however, as eight wickets tumbled - six of them to England - in an atmosphere that became increasingly frenetic. Four of them went to Caddick, who finally produced intelligent aggressive Test match bowling.
First, Jimmy Adams drove to short extra cover, followed back to the pavilion next ball by David Williams who lost his middle stump to a yorker. Ambrose avoided the hat-trick but was bowled also in Caddick's next over, and was immediately followed by Benjamin, leg before wicket.
Fraser's finale - Walsh caught at long off - was merely justice.
