da leao： The West Indian batsmen have nearly emerged unscathed from the first challengeof their second innings in the match against Western Australia at the WACAGround in Perth
www.baggygreen.com.au10-Nov-2000The West Indian batsmen have nearly emerged unscathed from the first challengeof their second innings in the match against Western Australia at the WACAGround in Perth.At the end of day two, the tourists are 1/31, after the loss of Daren Gangajust three overs before stumps. Ganga (8), who occupied the crease for fifty-two minutes, may have been unlucky to be out caught behind off the bowling of Brendon Julian. Even though there appeared to be some sort of a noise, thejury is still out on whether the leg side ball did in fact make contact withhis bat, and certainly Ganga was not happy about the decision. Still, the21-year-old did improve on his first innings duck, striking a boundary offSteve Nikitaris along the way.The West Indies now trail by 195 runs, with nine wickets in hand. SherwinCampbell (19*) and nightwatchman Marlon Black (0*) are the batsmen at thecrease.Earlier in the day, they failed to hold their chances against the Warriorbatsmen, dropping Matthew Nicholson (54) twice and Tom Moody (36) once.Nicholson, in particular, took full advantage of his good fortune, notchingup his second first-class fifty. His other half century came in thecorresponding game against the English tourists in 1998, where he injuredMark Butcher with the first ball of the match. Nicholson’s knock followedhis three-wicket haul in the West Indian first innings collapse. He alsobroke tailender Kerry Jeremy’s jaw with a nasty bouncer yesterday.The most impressive of the Warrior batsmen was Simon Katich. Awarded anAustralian Cricket Board contract in season 1999-2000, Katich today showedwhy he is regarded as one of Australia’s most exciting young batsmen duringhis three-and-a-quarter hour stay at the crease. His confident innings of73 off 123 balls contained twelve boundaries, including three off one MervynDillon over.He eventually fell early in the last session, to a Jimmy Adams catch offColin Stuart. Black (4/100) was the best bowler for the tourists,claiming Julian, Nikitaris and Gavin Swan to add to his dismissal of MikeHussey yesterday. Sending Julian back to the pavilion would have beenespecially sweet for Black, who was hit for a six and two fours by the lankypaceman.Stuart finished with 3/84 off his 21 overs while Dillon (1/91) and Adams(1/41) were the other wicket takers.After yesterday’s poor start, the tourists will be relieved with theirbatting performance so far in this innings, but need to stay in as long aspossible to come away with a positive result. The Warrior bowlers, on theother hand, will be fresh, keen and eager tomorrow to rip through theline-up in the hope of an early finish.