Cricket: ICC must get tough on intimidation: Atherton discounts panic reaction after first Test defeat as Malcolm's pounding puts pressure on ruling body

HURRICANES, earthquakes and monsoons have been known to make the occasional visit to Jamaica, but once England's cricketers woke up yesterday morning to the more familiar sight of sunshine glinting off the bedroom window, they knew the game was up.

The West Indies, having launched into England's bowling on Wednesday in a vain attempt to earn themselves a day off, were in no hurry to knock off the eight runs required yesterday morning, and the fact that it took them 5.2 overs had something to do with the fact that Alec Stewart and Graeme Hick were bowling. No batsman wants to get out to the likes of Stewart in a Test match and, while there was no evidence that Stewart will be opening the bowling for Surrey next summer, he was treated with exaggerated respect.

Meanwhile, the reason for the match dribbling over into the final day - Devon Malcolm's 44 minutes in a West Indian coconut shy on Wednesday afternoon - ought finally to convince the International Cricket Council, when they meet in July, that their 'one-bouncer-per- batsman-per-over' regulation has about as much practical use as a chocolate teapot, and belongs in the wastepaper basket.

England might also have permitted themselves an ironic chuckle at their first experience of 'neutral' umpiring in a Test match, given Ian Johnstone's impersonation of a tailor's dummy while Courtney Walsh was subjecting Malcolm to bowling that brought the England physio out on the field three times.

The Zimbabwean offical was presumably waiting for Malcolm to be removed from the field on a stretcher before intervening, and there is no doubt that law 42, governing intimidatory bowling, has become even less likely to be acted upon now that umpires can hide behind the bouncer restriction.

What it effectively means is that Kenneth Benjamin can receive (as he did) an official warning for two bouncers in an over sailing harmlessly over Alan Igglesden's head, while Walsh remains fireproofed against legal intervention for coming around the wicket and pebbledashing the rib-cage of a batsman who barely knows one end of the bat from the other.

For some reason, Malcolm swishing a few fours seems to infuriate fast bowlers, as it did in the home series against Pakistan two summers ago when Aqib Javed was warned for not only aiming at Malcolm rather than the stumps, but also for running through the crease and letting fly from about 20 yards.

It is particularly upsetting to watch Malcolm being worked over, as he is a genuinely nice bloke, cannot defend himself to save his life (which, against this lot, can almost be taken literally), and despite having swapped his paving-stone-lensed glasses for contact lenses, gives the impression that he is barely able to see the ball even if he had the ability to hit it.

In this part of the world, they do not get terribly excited about No 11 batsmen being used as a dartboard, and one of Test cricket's nastier cases of intimidation was reported thus by the Jamaican Daily Gleaner: 'Caddick and Malcolm countered the bowling with some rambuctuous (sic) strokeplay, until Malcolm, after a few knocks on the left hand and around the body, presented all three stumps and was bowled.'

However, on the assumption that the match referee, Sunil Gavaskar, does not believe everything he reads in the newspapers, his report to the ICC is likely to be more condemnatory than the customary noncommittal flim-flam, and while Mike Atherton declined to comment after the match, it would be a surprise if his own match report contained too many complimentary comments on Walsh's bowling to Malcolm.

What Atherton would probably like to see from the ICC is a restriction on the number of half-volleys permitted in an over, in that it was England's dreadful bowling on Sunday afternoon that allowed the West Indies to recover from 23 for 3. 'From that point,' Atherton said 'we showed no killer instinct, and did not deserve to win.'

However, despite hinting that one or two players might not have supplied the kind of effort he expected, Atherton said that he was not in the business of making panic changes. 'Before the tour started, I felt that English cricket needed a shot in the arm with young players, and I don't expect things to come right overnight.

'The time to makes changes is when people show no signs of learning,' Atherton said, but as he also said that he would not pick a spinner even if the match started again today on the same pitch, one or two people might take it that the captain was talking about himself.

However, he was right to say that the pitch was not really suited to spin, and Atherton is a quick enough learner not to keep picking people like Chris Lewis on the basis that he looked good in a one-day international. There are four more of them before the second Test in Guyana, from which the captain would be well advised to learn nothing.

FULL SCOREBOARD FROM SABINA PARK

(England won toss)

ENGLAND - First Innings

* M A Atherton c Murray b K Benjamin. . . . . . . . . . . 55 (227 min, 189 balls, 3 fours) A J Stewart c Murray b K Benjamin. . . . . . . . . . . . .70 (192 min, 118 balls, 10 fours) G P Thorpe b K Benjamin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 (125 min, 69 balls, 2 fours) R A Smith b Walsh. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 (5 min, 6 balls) G A Hick b Adams. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 (79 min, 65 balls, 3 fours) M P Maynard lbw b K Benjamin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 (99 min, 68 balls, 3 fours) R C Russell lbw b K Benjamin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .0 (3 min, 4 balls) C C Lewis c Adams b Ambrose. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 (35 min, 27 balls, 1 four) A R Caddick c Adams b K Benjamin. . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 (29 min, 27 balls) A P Igglesden not out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 (29 min, 16 balls) D E Malcolm run out (Arthurton-Murray). . . . . . . . . . .6 (4 min, 5 balls, 1 four) Extras (b2 lb5 w4 nb4). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Total (421 min, 98.1 overs). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

Fall: 1-121 (Stewart), 2-133 (Atherton), 3-134 (Smith), 4-172 (Hick), 5-172 (Thorpe), 6-172 (Russell), 7-194 (Lewis), 8-209 (Caddick), 9-227 (Maynard), 10-234 (Malcolm).

Bowling: Ambrose 22-8-46-1 (6-4-13-0; 3-0-10-0; 5- 1-7-0; 4-2-2-0; 4-1-14-1), Walsh 23-6-41-1 (7-2-11-0; 6- 0-21-0; 5-1-5-1; 5-3-4-0), K Benjamin 24-7-66-6 (nb4, w1) (6-3-15-0; 8-1-22-2; 6-2-13-2; 4-1-16-2), W Benjamin 19.1-7-43-0 (4-0-17-0; 5-3-6-0; 6-3-11-0; 4.1-1-9- 0), Adams 10-1-31-1 (nb1) (4-0-10-0; 6-1-21-1).

Stewart's 50: 209 min, 172 balls, 3 fours.

Atherton's 50: 144 min, 97 balls, 7 fours.

WEST INDIES - First Innings

D L Haynes c Thorpe b Malcolm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 (14 min, 13 balls, 1 four) P V Simmons c Russell b Caddick. . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 (18 min, 10 balls, 1 four) * R B Richardson c Maynard b Malcolm. . . . . . . . . . .5 (29 min, 13 balls) B C Lara b Hick. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83 (186 min, 131 balls, 11 fours) K L T Arthurton c Lewis b Malcolm. . . . . . . . . . . 126 (323 min, 232 balls, 11 fours, 2 sixes) J C Adams not out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .95 (342 min, 226 balls, 10 fours) J R Murray lbw b Igglesden. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 (73 min, 47 balls, 5 fours) W K M Benjamin b Caddick. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 (71 min, 58 balls, 6 fours) C E L Ambrose b Caddick. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 (4 min, 4 balls) K C G Benjamin b Lewis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .0 (2 min, 1 ball) C A Walsh lbw b Lewis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 (23 min, 8 balls) Extras (lb10 w1 nb3). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Total (550 min, 123 overs). . . . . . . . . . . . . . .407

Fall: 1-12 (Haynes), 2-12 (Simmons), 3-23 (Richardson), 4-167 (Lara), 5-256 (Arthurton), 6-319 (Murray), 7-389 (W Benjamin), 8-389 (Ambrose), 9-390 (K Benjamin), 10-407 (Walsh).

Bowling: Malcolm 23-3-113-3 (6-1-31-2, 6-0-40-0, 6-2-21-1, 5-0-21-0); Caddick 29-5-94-3 (nb4) (7-2-10- 1, 6-0-25-0, 4-0-18-0, 5-2-6-0, 3-0-20-0, 4-1-15-2); Lewis 26-4-82-2 (nb1 w1) (6-1-31-0, 7-2-17-0, 4-0-6- 0, 5-1-13-0, 4-0-15-2); Igglesden 24-5-53-1 (8-2-20- 0, 8-3-8-0, 2-0-6-0, 6-0-19-1); Hick 21-4-55-1 (3-0-12- 1, 6-1-18-0, 3-2-1-0, 9-1-24-0).

Lara's 50: 109 min, 82 balls, 6 fours.

Arthurton's 50: 116 min, 71 balls, 8 fours. 100: 234 min, 166 balls, 10 fours, 2 sixes.

Adams' 50: 228 min, 149 balls, 4 fours.

ENGLAND - Second Innings

* M A Atherton c Adams b Walsh. . . . . . . . . . . . 28 (112 min, 78 balls, 4 fours) A J Stewart run out (K Benjamin). . . . . . . . . . . 19 (41 min, 27 balls, 2 fours) R A Smith c Adams b Walsh. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 (18 min, 12 balls) G A Hick c sub (Harper) b K Benjamin. . . . . . . . . 96 (306 min, 187 balls, 12 fours) M P Maynard c Murray b W Benjamin. . . . . . . . . . . 0 (4 min, 3 balls) R C Russell c Adams b W Benjamin. . . . . . . . . . . 32 (75 min, 55 balls, 3 fours) G P Thorpe b W Benjamin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 (51 min, 41 balls, 2 fours) C C Lewis lbw b Ambrose. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 (94 min, 69 balls, 2 fours) A R Caddick not out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29 (83 min, 50 balls, 4 fours) A P Igglesden c Adams b K Benjamin. . . . . . . . . . .0 (10 min, 10 balls) D E Malcolm b Walsh. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 (43 min, 22 balls, 3 fours) Extras (b1 lb3 w2 nb2). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 Total (427 min, 91.5 overs). . . . . . . . . . . . . 267

Fall: 1-34 (Stewart), 2-39 (Smith), 3-58 (Atherton), 4-63 (Maynard), 5-126 (Russell), 6-155 (Thorpe), 7- 213 (Lewis), 8-226 (Hick), 9-228 (Igglesden), 10-267 (Malcolm).

Bowling: Ambrose 24-4-67-1 (2nb 1w) (6-1-14-0, 2- 1-4-0, 5-0-18-0, 5-1-10-0, 6-1-21-1); Walsh 24.5-6-67- 3 (14-3-35-2, 3-0-15-0, 6-3-9-0, 1.5-0-8-1); W Benjamin 20-3-56-3 (8-2-21-1, 10-1-25-2, 2-0-10-0); K Benjamin 18-2-60-2 (1nb 1w) (6-0-24-0, 5-0-21-0, 7- 2-15-2); Adams 2-0-9-0 (1-0-1-0, 1-0-8-0); Simmons 3-1-4-0 (one spell).

Hick's 50: 152 min, 85 balls, 5 fours.

WEST INDIES - Second Innings

D L Haynes not out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 (111 min, 77 balls, 5 fours) P V Simmons lbw b Igglesden. . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 (55 min, 27 balls, 1 four) B C Lara b Caddick. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 (42 min, 35 balls, 3 fours, 1 six) * R B Richardson not out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 (11 min, 20 balls) Extras (b5 lb3). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Total (for 2, 111 min, 26.2 overs). . . . . . . . . . 95

Fall: 1-38 (Simmons), 2-87 (Lara).

Bowling: Malcolm 5-1-19-0 (nb1) (3-1-10-0, 2-0-9- 0); Caddick 6-1-19-1 (3-1-7-0, 3-0-12-1); Lewis 3-0-6- 0; Igglesden 7-0-36-1; Hick 3-1-2-0; Stewart 2.2-0- 5-0 (one spell each).

Innings closed: 10.16am.

Umpires: S A Bucknor and I D Robinson.

Match referee: S M Gavaskar.

Man of the match: J C Adams.

Adjudicators: K W R Fletcher, J L Hendriks, R B Kanhai.

(Photograph omitted)

Lift for Pakistan, page 37