(WICB) LONDON – West Indies coach Ottis Gibson said winning the first Test against all odds would be a “massive” boost for West Indies on their tour of England.
Kemar Roach followed up defiant West Indies batting – again led by Shivnarine Chanderpaul – with two late wickets on Sunday to leave the match heading for a dramatic finish on Monday.
Roach produced two quick, lifting deliveries to knock over England captain and first innings century-maker Andrew Strauss for one and night-watchman James Anderson for six, as the hosts reached 10 for two, chasing 191 for victory, in a torrid 20-minute period before the close on the penultimate day at Lord’s.
“It would be massive,” said Gibson. “We are coming back [on Monday] to fight, make England fight for the rest of the runs, and if we do well enough to win, it would be great, we would celebrate.
“But if not, whatever happens, we are going to get off the bus [on Monday] looking to fight hard and win. It will be tough, especially against the No.1 side in the World. We know it will be a battle, but we are up for that battle.
“Coming on this tour, we always felt our bowling attack could cause a few problems and this will be a good opportunity for us to test our bowling attack against their batting. We know they need only 180 more runs, but we will come and fight really hard.”
West Indies revival in the Test was sparked by a record 157-run stand for the fifth wicket between Chanderpaul and Marlon Samuels.
Chanderpaul made 91 to follow up his first innings 87 and Samuels supported with 86, while Denesh Ramdin made 43 and West Indies captain Darren Sammy clocked in with a cameo of 37.
“The batting moreso has helped to give us the belief that we could win the Test,” said Gibson. “Batting for most of the day gave us heart.
“Chanderpaul and Samuels were outstanding. We made it really tough for their bowlers to get our wickets and two wickets to Kemar in the evening gives us a lot of hope for [Monday].”
Gibson added: “A lot was said before the start of the series about the inexperience of the side, but it was good to see the experienced players did their jobs [on Sunday]. . .and those guys are taking on more and more of the responsibility for the totals that the team gets and it makes a huge difference for us when our experienced players perform.
“We know we have some inexperienced players and they will come good, but the experienced players are leading from the front and this is what we need and everybody is happy with efforts from [Sunday].”
