WEST INDIES v ENGLAND 1985-86

At Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, April 3, 4, 5. West Indies won by ten wickets. Botham's first worthwhile contributions of the series and two encouraging innings by Smith were England's only consolations from another overwhelming defeat. As at Kingston (first Test) and Bridgetown (third), the pitch gave West Indies enough advantage for their fast bowlers to win the upper hand against batsmen in peak form, so it followed that against a disillusioned England team a rapid wicket-taking rate was not far short of a formality. In the event it took West Indies fewer overs (103.4) to demolish England twice than it did to bowl them out in the second innings of the previous Test at Queen's Park Oval. When the second innings of this match was tidied up in 38 overs, Haynes and Richardson scored the 39 needed to win off 35 deliveries, West Indies' ninth successive victory over England coming 70 minutes before the end of the third day - about fifteen minutes earlier than in Kingston, where the margin was the same.

The pitch, a hotch-potch of thick grass and bare brown patches, was described as the greenest ever seen in Port-of-Spain. It was two-paced, uneven in bounce throughout, and after two days criss-crossed by cracks. On the third morning when, under the supervision of the umpires, groundstaff shaved off an eighth of an inch of grass, the resultant clippings weighed about two pounds. England's cricket lacked distinction, and not only with the bat, as Thomas's analysis makes clear. But what remained of their fighting spirit had undoubtedly been diminished by the seemingly calculated nature of the pitch's preparation.

Smith's relative success - he was top scorer in each innings - was significant. Having been omitted from the second and third Test, he was the only batsman whose confidence was more or less intact. By England's modest standards of the series, he was beginning to impose himself when he was caught behind square-leg off a well-hit hook in the first innings, and deceived by Holding's movement to be lbw without offering a stroke in the second. He took Edmonds' place in the side beaten at Bridgetown, while for West Indies Harper, the off-spinner, came in for Best, though in the event he did not bowl a ball.

Having won the toss, West Indies were in the ascendant from the fourth over when Garner, bowling at his quickest, had Robinson caught at third slip. At 31 for three, all to Garner, it required little imagination to see England collapsing for a hundred. But with Smith coping skilfully with the variations in bounce, especially with balls that rose chest high, and Lamb surviving an easy chance to Harper at third slip at 11, the fourth wicket put on 92. Then Botham, after a shaky start, sustained his concentration for 165 minutes before swinging wildly across Holding to be last out for 38, his highest Test score in the West Indies. There was still time for West Indies to have two overs batting before the close.

Thomas's inability to control either line or length damaged England's slim chance of remaining in contention. Greenidge and Haynes shared eight 4s in his opening four-over spell, and he was hardly less expensive later. However, Gomes, well caught by Downton low to his left, and Richards, with whom he shared a partnership of 102, the highest of the match, were the only batsmen to master the problems for any length of time. Richards, who passed 6,000 runs in Test at the start of his innings, played superbly, responding to England's tactics of bowling clear of his off stump with a variety of exquisite off-side strokes to beat the six-man field. He looked sure to make his first Test hundred on the ground since 1975-76 when, half an hour before the close, Botham had him lbw with a breakback that kept low. When Botham next morning polished off the tail, he completed only his third five-wicket bag in eighteen Tests against West Indies, raising his tally overall to 352.

Once Gooch, hooking, top-edged the third ball of the innings straight up in the air, England never looked like overcoming their deficit of 112. Robinson, bat crooked and far away from body, was bowled off the inside edge for his fifth single-figure score in six innings in the series; Gower was adjudged lbw when he turned his back on a short ball, bowled over the wicket, which kept low; Lamb was beaten by a great delivery from Patterson which pitched on middle stump and struck the top of off. Hard enough to play in conditions favouring the bat, as in 1984 in England, the quality of West Indies' pace quartet made for something less than gripping contests on pitches such as this.

The Man of the Match award was won by Richards.