Racy start but no mishaps

There was brief moment of quiet at 10.05 a.m. on Saturday at Sabina Park, when this scenario appeared a remote prospect. Just as Javagal Srinath prepared to steam down from the Blue Mountains End, thereby getting the the fifth, final and most awaited clash in this series underway. Just as local boy Gayle took guard.

Just as the possibilities in the days ahead, after Saurav Ganguly finally called right at the toss and invited the hosts take position in front of the stumps, arraigned themselves with a thrilling finality. As it happens, Gayle got off the mark.

This may be the ground where Gary Sobers cracked his unbeaten 365, but chances are the two bowling attacks would be more than happy to be given all of that much to play with. The wise men, who wielded the willow in past years, have issued their assessment.

Even a first innings total of 250 would be enough to put the fear of pace in the side batting second. But. But this, to use the only apt cliches, is a funny old game, it glories in its uncertainties.

The one thing glaringly uncertain here in Sabina Park is the bounce. Take Srinath’s third over. The second ball may not have been a lethal throat ball, but keeper Ajay Ratra had to collect it over his head. The fourth ball, however, kept so low that it almost dribbled on to the Faridabad resident.

India may not have collected a bushel of wickets in the early overs to do justice to the skipper’s decision to field, but in coming hours the uncertain bounce will keep batsmen on edge, in two minds whether to go forward or back.

It’s a beautiful day in Kingston. The grass is freshly mowed — except for the track, that is! A clement breeze has swept away yesterday’s mugginess, the sun shines mildly through a thin cloud cover.

The alleyways around this majestic ground are still clogged, on the Red Stripe mound they are rocking away beside a tackily recreated beach scene. In Kingston they are briskly filing in to witness what could — should — be viciously contested fixture.

But if you are seeking signs of a mean, tough campaign from the Indians, you’d be still squinting through your binoculars with lunch time fast approaching, with smells of local delicacies — and of course the local brew — wafting in. They did leap in appeal in the fifth over for a catch — Gayle off Srinath — but not only was the ball a mile from the left-hander, the Caribbean media contingent immediately pooh-poohed, the Indian plea was vapid.

Into the first lunch recess, questions remain. Was the devil in the green wicket a figment of so many expert imaginations?

Or have Srinath, Ashish Nehra and Zaheer Khan failed to extract assistance? Has Chris Gayle rapidly spinning wagon wheel exposed India’s pace attack on the eve of yet another marathon tour, this time of England? Or was the groundsman right, that this track had a lot for the batsmen too? The answer, as it always does, may lie somewhere in between.

But, now with the two Jamaican left-handers notching up a total of 88 in 27 overs, it may be too early to say, though it’d take a head-in-the-clouds optimist to aver that Indian batsmen can expect the gentility lavished by their own bowlers on the local boys.