West Indies v India - Third Test

Bourda, Georgetown, Guyana

West Indies: CG Greenidge, LG Rowe, GA Headley, IVA Richards, FMM Worrell, *GStA Sobers, +PJL Dujon, MD Marshall, MA Holding, J Garner, CEL Ambrose.
India: SM Gavaskar, +FM Engineer, DB Vengsarkar, VL Manjrekar, PR Umrigar, *MAK Pataudi, Kapil Dev, M Prabhakar, EAS Prasanna, BKV Prasad, BS Chandrasekhar.

Debuts: Nil
Umpires: Mahboob Shah (PAK) & DJ Constant (ENG)
Toss: West Indies

Following their dramatic escape in Trinidad, the tourists would have no doubt been bracing themselves for a West Indian backlash in Guyana, and so it was to prove as the hosts piled on the runs over the course of the first two days. Sobers won an important toss given the benign nature of the pitch at the Bourda, and George Headley led the rout as West Indies piled up a daunting total of 596, 428 of which came on a breathless first day.

George Headley was in imperious form during his mammoth 285

Greenidge got the ball rolling with a rollicking 96 and Richards blitzed 52 off just 35 balls, the second quickest fifty in ATG history, but it was Headley who was to prove chief executioner. He gave ne'er a chance, and by the time he was finally dismissed by Kapil Dev on the second afternoon he had taken his score to 285, the second highest individual innings in West Indian history. India stumbled their way to 147-4 in reply, but centuries from the inevitable Gavaskar and captain Pataudi, along with a confident fifty from Kapil Dev, enabled the tourists to pick their way to 343-5 by the close on day three, just 54 short of saving the follow-on.

However, the innings crumbled at the hands of Holding and Marshall on the fourth morning, and the last five wickets tumbled for just 14 runs as India's tail succumbed to an inspired spell of hostile pace bowling to leave the tourists 34 runs short of saving the follow-on at 363 all out. Sobers invited the Indians to bat again, and by lunch two further wickets had fallen to make it seven for the session as India looked like they could be ready to hoist the white flag. Gavaskar had other ideas though, and with Manjrekar his willing ally 178 runs were posted for the third wicket as India fought back. Manjrekar went for 95 in the day's last half hour but Gavaskar's defences remained unbreached, and on the final morning he brought up his second century of the match and his third in successive innings as India took the lead.

West Indies must be getting sick of the sight of Sunil Gavaskar

Wickets were falling at the other end though, and the fate of the game had now come down to a delicate equation of runs versus time. By tea India were 335-7, a lead of 102, and another hour's batting would surely be enough to save the game. Ambrose now delivered perhaps the most telling spell of his ATG career though, and in the space of half an hour the final three wickets fell for the addition of only 12 further runs, Ambrose finishing with career best figures of 6-50. Gavaskar had carried his bat for 149 and had batted for an incredible 18 hours over the course of both innings, but if West Indies could knock off 115 runs in the 30 overs that remained then his efforts would have been all for nought.

Greenidge and Rowe provided a solid base with a partnership of 65 off 17 overs, and with Greenidge continuing on to his second fifty of the match the result was never in doubt. The winning runs came with 16 balls and 7 wickets to spare, and India's resolve had finally been broken after two Tests of heroic defence. That said, the series is still only level at 1-1, and after three engrossing Tests we now look forward to the second half of what could go down as a truly classic series.

Score Summary
WI 1st Inns 596 (Headley 285, Greenidge 96, Richards 52, Sobers 42; Prabhakar 4-114)
IND 1st Inns 363 (Pataudi 109, Gavaskar 105, Kapil Dev 61; Holding 4-82)
IND 2nd Inns 347 (Gavaskar 149*, Manjrekar 95; Ambrose 6-50)
WI 2nd Inns 116-3 (Greenidge 51*)

WEST INDIES WON BY 7 WICKETS

1st & 2nd innings scorecards (click to enlarge)

Close of play
Day 1 - West Indies 1st innings 428-6 (Headley 183*, Marshall 9*; 99 ov)
Day 2 - India 1st innings 100-2 (Gavaskar 56*, Manjrekar 23*; 40 ov)
Day 3 - India 1st innings 343-5 (Pataudi 107*, Kapil Dev 54*; 118 ov)
Day 4 - India 2nd innings 227-4 (Gavaskar 93*, Pataudi 7*; 81 ov)
Day 5 - West Indies 2nd innings 116-3 (27.2 ov) - end of match

Notes
▪ Headley's 285 is the second highest individual innings in West Indies' history
▪ Gavaskar is the ninth player, and third Indian, to score two hundreds in a Test and the second player, after JG Wright, to score three consecutive Test hundreds
▪ Gavaskar is the second player, after JB Hobbs, to carry his bat through a completed innings
▪ Sobers passed 5000 career runs
▪ Headley passed 2000 career runs
▪ Gavaskar and Manjrekar's partnership of 178 is India's highest for the third wicket against West Indies
▪ Richards' fifty off 35 balls is the second fastest in ATG history
▪ Dujon became the first wicketkeeper to reach 200 victims when he caught Prabhakar in India's 2nd innings

Man of the Match: GA Headley