Same pitch, different battles

• It was very difficult… the ball was stopping and coming. It was also seaming a bit, a challenging pitch, I must say. It is also at times a bit up and down. I don’t think (the pitch will get better). It was a strange sort of wicket when you went out there. Normally, when you play on wickets that seam a bit you can play a few shots because the ball comes on to the bat. But here the ball just didn’t seem to come on, there was no real pace off the wicket.

— Rahul Dravid (whose gritty 81 off 215 balls, took India to a “fighting” 200 from 91/6)It’s just the new ball

• It was a great effort by the bowlers, Herculean effort on such a pitch. I think the new ball was a major factor. But after you get to 40 or 50 overs, you realise that the likes of Anil Kumble really didn’t look troubled at all. I think it’s a pitch where you see off the new ball, the first 15-20 overs, and it’s a run feast after that till the other new ball. Hopefully, the pitch will deteriorate some more on the fourth and fifth day, but it’s going to be a very hard task getting the opposition out again.

— Brian Lara (Who said his team would have batted first, and “fared better”, if he had won the toss)

Better than the rest

• To be honest, this pitch was offering more assistance than the others in the series. I think Pedro (Collins), Corey (Collymore) and I exploited the pitch well.

— Jerome Taylor (Whose 5/50 gave an explosive start to the deciding fourth Test)