Cricket: Holder exposes supporting cast

THE Barbados batsmen revelled in conditions which allowed them to play their strokes against bowlers who had clearly forgotten that such things as pitches with pace and bounce still existed and did not bowl well. Minus the cutting edge of Guyana, Angus Fraser and Dean Headley, England's rusty second string managed to keep Barbados in check during the first part of the day when they picked up three lucky wickets. But after that Roland Holder made a splendid 115 not out, his second century against these tourists, finding useful partners in Floyd Reifer and Ricky Hoyte, as Barbados reached 328 for 4.

The Barbados captain, Philo Wallace, had shown the way at the start with some fluent stroke play in his 68 which must have put him in line to take over opener Stuart Williams' place in the West Indies line-up for the Fifth Test which begins on Thursday. Holder will also have caught the selectorial eye, although the only other possible batting vacancy will be right at the top of the order should the selectors decide to jettison Sherwin Campbell.

Kensington Oval looked a picture although the game was played amid the furious noise of builders applying the finishing touches to the ground. The outfield was greener than usual - they have sunk a new well nearby and now mix the water with fertiliser. But even though one ball from Chris Silverwood took off from near to a length and gave Campbell no chance of getting out of the way, it looks as though Barbados, at any rate, have not forgotten how to prepare proper cricket pitches and that the fifth Test should take place on a trustworthy surface.

It was, of course, cruel luck for England to find themselves on the wrong end of a decisive toss at Georgetown after so heroically pulling themselves back into contention in the second of the two Port of Spain Tests. It is desperately important now that they regard this as an act of God and put it behind them.

There should be changes for the Test, firstly because it would be absurd to play two spinners on a pitch with pace and bounce, and also because Jack Russell's form behind the stumps has disintegrated. As far as the spinners are concerned, one would like to see the selectors stay with Robert Croft. He is a more attacking bowler than Phil Tufnell in these conditions and this is a match England must go into concerned only with victory. In any case, Tufnell has not been at his best and his omission against Barbados is an indication of the selectors' thinking. If they decide to drop Russell, Alec Stewart would take over behind the stumps for the umpteenth time in his Test career. However, Russell should not feel slighted as this time Stewart will get the job on merit. It is extraordinary how bad Russell was in two of the first three Tests and when things are going badly for him he gives the impression, falsely, one hopes, of losing interest. At the moment, he is not providing adequate support for the bowlers.

Whenever Stewart takes over behind the stumps, it gives the side a better balance although at the same time it severely handicaps England's most productive batsman. The last time England played a Test match here, four years ago, Stewart made a hundred in each innings, Russell kept wicket and England won by 208 runs. This may swing the argument in Russell's favour, a thought backed up by his presence against Barbados.

Tufnell's place should go to Andrew Caddick, who was unlucky to be left out in Georgetown. We will never know if his presence on the first day there, when Brian Lara and Shivnarine Chanderpaul added 159 for the third wicket, would have changed the course of the match. In spite of his infuriating inconsistency, Caddick took seven wickets when England won in Port of Spain.

One unhappy feature of this tour has been the way in which certain members were relegated to the dustbin before it began. Mark Ramprakash and Mark Butcher have clawed their way out thanks to injury, illness and John Crawley's poor form. Crawley's selection to bat at No 3 for the start of the series was a serious piece of Lancashire-inspired misjudgement.

But Ashley Cowan and Silverwood have not been so lucky and it now looks unlikely that either will see the light of day in the series. This is probably inevitable for some unfortunate players as tours are increasingly concentrated, to keep their length as short as possible. With Fraser and Headley being rested yesterday, the young pace pair had their first good bowl in decent conditions since the start of the tour and both were distinctly rusty. Silverwood produced the only ball of the day which really bounced and Campbell, who desperately needed a long innings, could not get out of the way.

Soon after lunch, when Wallace and Adrian Griffith had put on 73, the left-handed Griffith was well caught at square-leg by Nasser Hussain off a top edged pull against Caddick. Later in the same over, Wallace's innings ended with an identical stroke, well caught by Croft low down at fine- leg. Reifer later drove Croft hard to extra cover.

Scoreboard

First day of three. Barbados won toss

Barbados - First Innings

*P A Wallace c Croft b Caddick 68

S L Campbell c Russell b Silverwood 21

A F G Griffith c Hussain b Caddick 21

R I C Holder not out 115

F L Reifer c Ramprakash b Croft 60

R L Hoyte not out 19

Extras (lb5, nb19) 24

Total (for 4, 90 overs) 328

Fall: 1-47, 2-120, 3-124, 4-257

To Bat:, T Rollock, O D Gibson P Collins, M Balgrove, W E Reid.

Bowling: Caddick 19-2-77-2, Cowan 14-2-51-0, Silverwood 10-1-50-1, Croft 30-6-71-1, Hollioake 8-1-41-0, Ramprakash 9-3-33-0

England: A J Stewart, M A Butcher, *N Hussain (capt), G P Thorpe M R Ramprakash, A J Hollioake, R C Russell, R D B Croft A R Caddick, A P Cowan, C E W Silverwood.

Umpires: M Jones and D Holder