Benjamin returns to basics

Kenny Benjamin has been very much the fourth man in the West Indies' fast bowling quartet ever since his first Test appearance back in 1992. Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh and Ian Bishop, all faster, more menacing and more feared, have stolen the spotlight and whenever he has tried to sidle his way into it by copying their methods he has let himself down.

He is no tearaway and, when he tries to be he has looked innocuous. Instead, he is a good, honest outswing bowler of fast-medium pace who was seen to best advantage yesterday.

The West Indies' worst fears were confirmed even before a ball was bowled by the injury that eliminated Ambrose and by the loss of the toss. It took Bishop three deliveries to assess the nature of a flat, lifeless pitch, summoning his keeper and slip fielders one step forward with a wry smile on his face.

This was going to be a holding operation and all three remaining fast bowlers played their parts admirably. Benjamin was the pick.

Delivering from close to the stumps and forcing the batsmen to play almost every delivery he could never be dominated. When he returned for his spell after tea that brought the West Indies back into contention he began to generate the reverse outswing that makes him so dangerous when he observes a full length.

The West Indies would have been concerned as he left the field late in the day but the hobble that carried him off was caused only by cramp and he will be available this morning. He will be needed, for the leg-spinner Rajindra Dhanraj found this pitch simply too slow and his propensity to deliver boundary balls made him expensive.

Dhanraj may yet come into his own in the later stages but he has done nothing to enhance the West Indian attitude to spin bowling. In recent years those who have been given the opportunity have flunked it, failing to capitalise on helpful conditions where even occasional spinners have prospered.