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Bob Cunis, the former New Zealand medium-pacer, has died aged 67 at his house in Northland. Cunis played 20 Tests between 1964 and 1972, taking 51 wickets at the average of 37, including one five-wicket haul, and was also a useful lower-order batsman. He went on to coach New Zealand between 1987 and 1990.One of the highlights of Cunis’ international career was his battling 96-run association with Mark Burgess for the ninth wicket in the second innings against Pakistan in the third Test in Dhaka in 1969. The partnership helped New Zealand save the match and sealed their first series win on foreign soil.He was good enough to earn a place in the World XI side, containing the likes of Garry Sobers, Clive Lloyd, Sunil Gavaskar, and Zaheer Abbas, which toured Australia in 1971-72, but was plagued by knee injuries throughout his career.Cunis, who had an unorthodox action which made it seem like he was bowling off the wrong foot, had a 16-year first-class career with Auckland and Northern Districts from 1960-61 to 1976-77. In 132 first-class matches, he took 386 wickets at 26.65, including 18 five-fors and two ten-wicket hauls. His best season was with Auckland in 1968-69, when he took 30 wickets at the astonishing average of 12.6 to take them to victory in the Plunket Shield.John Arlott, the famous BBC commentator and journalist, once described Cunis as being “neither one thing or another”.He was also a handy rugby three-quarter. His son Stephen was also a first-class cricketer and played for Canterbury between 1999 and 2005.

In the midst of one of the worst-ever periods in their crickethistory, India toured England in 1959 only to end up with thekind of record team members see in their nightmares. Out of 33first-class matches, the Indians won only six and lost 11 whilenot all of the remaining 16 were honourably drawn.

All five Tests were lost, this being the first time that Indiasuffered such a whitewash. Incidentally, it was only the thirdtime in Test history that a team had lost all five matches. Therecord was even more unpalatable considering the fact that it wasone of the best English summers for years and that the home teamthemselves were not very confident having just been thrashed inAustralia during the winter.In fact, they commenced their rebuilding process by trying outmany new players and even then they were good enough to swampIndia. Three of the matches were lost by an innings, two defeatswere sustained inside three days and two more matches must surelyhave been concluded with two days to spare but for interferencefrom the weather.A generally young team was again sent on the tour. But unlike in1952 when the wicket and weather conditions were against them,this time the sun, out in all its glory, seemed to be in theirfavour. However, the batsmen again found the pace of FreddieTrueman and Brian Statham too hot to handle. What was even moredisconcerting was the fact that the batsmen surrendered theirwickets tamely even to lesser-known new ball bowlers like AlanMoss and rookie Harold Rhodes and also to spin bowlers like BrianClose, Tom Greenhough and Ray Illingworth.The selection of the team was made in the wake of thedisappointing five-match home series against the West Indies thatwas lost badly. For various reasons, Ghulam Ahmed, Vinoo Mankad,Gulabrai Ramchand and Dattu Phadkar were not selected and therewas a new captain in Dattajirao Gaekwad. Pankaj Roy was hisdeputy and it was obvious that the batting would revolve aroundthese two, Polly Umrigar, Vijay Manjrekar, Chandu Borde, NariContractor and Bapu Nadkarni. The bowling, meanwhile, was tohinge mainly on Subash Gupte, making his long awaited first tourof England, the medium pacers Ramakant Desai and RamanSurrendranath and the two all rounders Borde and Nadkarni.It was, then, the collective failure of both the batsmen and thebowlers that led to the rout in the Tests. The fact that onlyContractor (233) and Umrigar (230) topped the 200-run aggregatemark symbolises the batting failures. Despite arriving after hisclassic batting display against the West Indies, which saw himget 109 and 96 against Wes Hall and Roy Gilchrist in the finalTest at New Delhi, Borde was a failure getting only 140 runs inseven innings.Roy improved upon his dismal record of seven years before butstill proved to be easy meat for the pacemen, as evidenced by hismeagre return of 179 runs from ten innings. Gaekwad never reallygot going and India were further handicapped by Manjrekar playingin only the first two Tests before a knee problem ruled him outfor the rest of the tour.Fortunately, Abbas Ali Baig, a 20-year-old freshman at OxfordUniversity, proved to be a worthy replacement. At Manchester, hescored a century in his first Test, becoming the first Indian tohit a century on debut abroad. Moreover, the fact that he did soon the same ground at which Ranji had achieved a similar featagainst Australia back in 1896 added a touch of colour.Umrigar was the only other century maker in the series. He scored118 at Manchester in what proved to be his last Test innings inEngland, hooking and pulling his old adversary Trueman withgusto. But perhaps the most courageous knock was played byContractor at Lord’s when he carried on to make 81 in over fourhours despite having one of his ribs broken by a ball from BrianStatham early in the innings.The bowling failed to rise to the occasion. Gupte no doubt tookthe most number of wickets in the series – 17 – but these cost34.64 apiece. Desai was harshly treated, his 12 wickets beingobtained at an average of 50.16. The best bowler wasSurendranath. Relishing the conditions that aided his swingbowling, he finished at the top of the averages with 16 wicketsat 26.62 apiece. Nadkarni with his left-arm spinners was at beststeady while the English batsmen negotiated Borde’s leg-spinnerscomfortably.On the tour, Umrigar was again the most commanding batsman. Hegot five centuries, three of them double hundreds – one knock of252 not out against Cambridge University being the then highestscore abroad by an Indian. He ended the tour with 1826 runs andbut for a hand injury that ruled him out of the last few matcheson the tour, would surely have crossed the 2000-run mark.Gaekwad (1174), Roy (1207), Borde (1060) and Contractor (1183)were the others to cross the 1000-run mark, though given a fulltour it is safe to assume that both Manjrekar (755) and Baig(673) would have made the four-figure mark too.As far as the bowling was concerned, Gupte with 95 wicketsfinished top of the heap but considering his reputation, thefigure fell below expectations. Surendranath, given a lot of workhad 79 wickets while Borde (72) and Nadkarni (55) did reasonablywell. Desai, however, was a bit of a letdown finishing with 45rather expensive wickets.As only to be expected in a one-sided series, England had thingstheir own way. Peter May, Colin Cowdrey, Mike Smith and new boyGeoff Pullar got hundreds while Ken Barrington was a model ofconsistency. The old firm of Statham and Trueman mowed down theIndian batting repeatedly and even Greenhough’s leg spinnerscaused the visitors some trouble. Ultimately, it was bothtechnical difficulties and a lack of fighting spirit that sawIndia go down tamely.

A battered and bruised Pakistan side, still nursing the wounds of the disastrous second Test defeat, face the prospect of another mauling from Australia when the two teams clash here Saturday in the third and final Test at Sharjah Cricket Stadium.With the series already clinched the cock-a-hoop Australians, who prefer to do the talking on the field rather than off it, are determined to complete the second successive clean sweep against a demoralised squad further weakened by the latest withdrawal of their ‘cry baby’ Shoaib Akhtar, declared unfit after complaining of a minor back niggle.It is now a common ploy by self acclaimed world’s best bowler to get himself ruled out by unseen injuries when things do not go his way. As usual Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has agreed to dance to his tune deciding not to risk him but declaring he would be fit to undertake next month’s tour of Zimbabwe and followed by visit to South Africa.Shoaib and the already sidelined Abdul Razzaq, if one believes in the working of the PCB are scheduled to leave for Pakistan early Saturday.Another Australian victory here which cannot be ruled out considering the form and fortune of the two sides will make it sixth successive Test triumph and further plunge Pakistan cricket into crisis, self inflicted by the antics of Pakistan cricket management for whom everything is satisfactory.As for the match itself the current form of Pakistan team carrying players whose fitness are in doubt, including skipper Waqar Younis and wicket-keeper Rashid Latif, makes it easy to predict anything but another facile victory for the Aussies who have no injury problems and are expected to field the same eleven that was brutally cruel in the second Test.Pakistan, on the other hand, are likely to throw in the den possibly middle-order batsman Hasan Raza and rookie all-rounder Rana Naveed-ul-Hasan besides Shahid Afridi, who was flown in as replacement for the out-of-action Razzaq.The men likely to get the axe are Imran Nazir and Misbah-ul-Haq, both on present form are not Test material. One other change could be return of either of the two fast bowlers Mohammad Sami or Mohammad Zahid in place of leg-spinner Danish Kaneria, a poor man’s Shane Warne.Unlike the second Test when the temperature soared to 51 Celsius the weather is expected to be more amiable and offer comfort to the players.Reuters adds: The form of the Waugh brothers is not a concern as long as Australia keep winning, captain Steve Waugh said Friday.Pakistan coach Richard Pybus provoked a row by suggesting that Waugh and his 37-year-old twin Mark might be reaching the end of their Test careers after failing to notch a century between them in 11 Tests since last year’s tour of England.”I want to score runs and we want to win every Test we play and that’s the goal,” said Waugh.”I think when you see Australia play, you see a result and that’s not happened everywhere. It’s a very successful side and time will be the judge. We guys can still raise our side.”Steve has scored 31, 0 and 0 in this series while Mark has made 55, 0 and two but, more importantly to the Australia skipper, Australia have won seven, drawn three and lost just one of the tests since a Waugh last hit a hundred.”Both of us got runs in the first innings for first Test in Colombo and then Shoaib turned the match for a while. We won the match in the end and that’s what counts,” he added. “We want to win every match we play. That’s our thinking.”We want to win the series 3-0. But the job will be a lot harder this time as I am sure Pakistan must have worked out some game plan of staging a comeback.”Pakistan would surely welcome two such experienced Test batsmen as the Waughs into their side after collapsing to their lowest scores of 59 and 53 in losing the second Test by an innings and 198 runs.To add to his problems, Waqar will take to the field with a weakened bowling attack. “What has happened in the past can’t be reversed, but we are looking for a much improved performance in this Test,” said Waqar.”The wicket is slow and we have an extra option with the inclusion of Shahid Afridi in the team. The loss of Shoaib Akhtar is a big blow, but then there is nothing we could do about it.” “We are not concerned about the bowling department, but our batting has been pretty vulnerable.”Waugh said the one-sided nature of the second Test was not just caused by Pakistan’s weakness, which augured well for the Ashes series against England starting next month.”We played outstanding cricket (in the series) so you got to give credit the way we played and not concentrate on how badly Pakistan played,” Waugh said. “We played excellent cricket and pressurised Pakistan batsmen into making mistakes and took our opportunities. We are ready for this Test and ready for the England contest.”Teams:Pakistan (from): Taufiq Umar, Shahid Afridi, Younis Khan, Faisal Iqbal, Hasan Raza, Rashid Latif, Rana Naveed-ul-Hasan, Saqlain Mushtaq, Waqar Younis (captain), Mohammad Sami, Mohammad Zahid, Misbah-ul-Haq, Imran Nazir, Danish Kaneira, Imran Farhat.Australia (probable): Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer, Ricky Ponting, Mark Waugh, Steve Waugh (captain), Damien Martyn, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne, Brett Lee, Andy Bichel, Glenn McGrath.Umpires: Steve Bucknor (West Indies) and Srinivas Venkataraghavan (India).TV umpire: Asad Rauf (Pakistan).Match referee: Clive Lloyd (West Indies).

On a day that finished early because of rain and bad light, England had made hay while the clouds rolled by earlier in the day to lay the foundations for another very healthy total after winning the toss. Whether they can top five hundred as they have in their last two innings against Sri Lanka remains to be seen, but their overall dominance of the attack suggests that it is not out of the question.It was a good toss to win from the outset, with Nasser Hussain having no hesitation in batting first. The decision was made to look even better when Eric Upashantha encountered the first set of problems on what was to become a progressively more difficult day that only improved when he bowled with a wet ball late in the day.Only a short distance to the west stands another Old Trafford where, in recent memory, the fans would often chant the name of Eric. However, Cantona could scarcely have suffered such a miserable day on the football field as Upashantha endured here. He bowled five no balls in his first spell of four overs and was taken off having conceded 24 from his four overs. Having said that, Muttiah Muralitharan fared little, if any, better. His first spell was of three overs that cost 22 runs.Marcus Trescothick and Michael Vaughan were feasting on a glut of half volleys and long hops. Vaughan in particular was striking the ball cleanly but yet another innings full of immense promise was cut short when he was deceived by a slower ball from Dilhara Fernando who was the pick of the Sri Lankan attack with his pace and bounce. Vaughan simply chipped his intended push through the covers to Chaminda Vaas at mid-off.Trescothick and Mark Butcher proceeded to share a partnership that was to realise 126 runs in 35 overs. Both were batting with style and Butcher launched into the return of Upashantha by taking three more boundaries off his next one-over spell.The only alarms they experienced came when Trescothick was dropped twice in the space of two balls from Fernando. He failed to get on top of a cut to send a stinging chance towards Hashan Tillakeratne at backward point that the fielder parried but could not catch, even at the second attempt as it fell behind him. Next ball, Trescothick top-edged a hook that went in a gentle arc toward backward square. Fernando had to abort his premature celebrations when the luckless Upashantha spilled the sort of chance that most club cricketers would snaffle. There is no truth in the rumour that he put his head in his hands – and dropped that as well.Trescothick added 17 to his total after those escapes before he pushed forward to Muralitharan and edged to Mahela Jayawardene at slip very low down. He had gathered 14 boundaries in his 152-ball innings and undoubtedly had his eyes set on a century.Hussain came in and immediately tried to impose himself on the bowling. He has been in princely form of late, but whether it was prudent to set off at such a tempo was a matter for him to determine. Having charged Muralitharan, making more use of his pad than bat, he then tucked in to the last over before tea from Fernando to help himself to three fours and a two. Fernando had been warned for running onto the pitch earlier, and while concentrating on going wide, dropped the ball horribly short.It was the bowler who retained the initiative, though, when he drew Hussain into an expansive drive after tea, only for the England captain to find that it was another well-disguised slower ball that he reached outside off-stump to play with his weight back on one knee and head in the air. That position would have allowed him to follow the trajectory of the ball to mid-off where Muralitharan took the catch.The first of two all-Surrey partnerships saw Graham Thorpe join Butcher. They were together when the players left the field during the start of the first rain break, but not for long when play resumed. It was still gloomy and the rain must have eased only marginally, but in these difficult conditions Upashantha suddenly found the control he had been so elusive earlier. Thorpe made contact with a feint inside edge to the ‘keeper and the bowler’s relief and joy was totally understandable.He could have had another wicket when the new batsman, Alec Stewart, slashed at a short ball outside the off stump to see a flying effort from Jayawardene at backward point go down, and Stewart stayed with Butcher until the rain returned again to send the players from the field for the last time. Equalling the England appearance record in this match, Stewart will want to make an impression on a favourite ground, while Butcher, who just missed out on a century at Edgbaston, will not want to do so here. There is no reason why he should not go on well past three figures.

It was a frustrating day at the Rose Bowl on Friday, the third day of the Frizzell County Championship match was washed out, but not after the umpires had made five inspection trips to the middle.Heavy overnight rain, which had the ground awash at 6am, had made a prompt start impossible, but the lack of any sunshine and no wind, despite the sterling efforts of the ground staff, meant that by 5pm, Messrs. Ken Palmer and George Sharp, with the captains in attendance finally agreed to try again tommorrow.There was a small crowd that had waited all day, plus a party of 40 former Hampshire players in attendance for their bi-annual reunion. Among them were new club president Colin Ingleby-Mackenzie, Derek Shackleton, Jimmy Gray, Peter Sainsbury, Butch White plus many going back to before the last war, and some of more recent ilk. Joining them were Club Chairman Rod Bransgrove and former President Wilfred Weld.

Tasmania will be aiming to land a knockout blow on opponent New South Wales at some time over the next 48 hours after it continued to lay a platform for outright victory on the second day of the teams’ Pura Cup clash here in Hobart today.Resilient New South Wales openers Corey Richards (34*) and Matthew Phelps (29*) sounded a warning to their hosts that a long fight for outright points probably still awaits, joining in a defiant unbroken stand that carried the visitors to a second innings mark of 0/65 by stumps.In that it had earlier delivered a 237-run first innings advantage for the home team, though, this was again a day on which terms were generally dictated by the Tasmanians.Though the latter wasn’t quite at his best, Michael Dighton (84) and Jamie Cox (72) established the impetus for what was to follow by stretching their partnership for the second wicket to a mark of 82 runs upon the resumption.The liaison secured first innings points for Tasmania; featured close to run-a-minute scoring; and gradually seemed to drain spirit from the bowlers.In both context and execution, Dighton’s hand had all the trappings of one of the best-timed innings of the season. His driving was flawless; his placement impeccable; and his rate of scoring brisk.Michael Di Venuto (39) added to the momentum once Cox had fallen to a fine low catch at point, complementing Dighton’s headway with a flurry of boundaries of his own.Though Tasmania’s progress stalled briefly on either side of lunch as Dighton was beaten in slog-sweeping at left arm spinner Michael Clarke (2/25) and Di Venuto swung across the line at Don Nash (2/81), containment remained a difficult art for their opponents.David Saker (40*) and Shane Jurgensen (19) encapsulated this reality in clubbing 44 in a breezy tenth wicket stand that revived memories of their recent 114-run association that acted as the rallying point of Tasmania’s late season renaissance.In the interim, the New South Wales bowlers scratched away in unconvincing manner.A comparative rush of wickets arrived with the second new ball for Stuart Clark (2/99) and Grant Lambert (3/86), but a string of sizeable Tasmanian partnerships made frustration the order of the day for the visitors.Also adding to the Blues’ woes were three missed catches.With his score at 53, the flight of a ball that had been viciously cut by Dighton was misjudged by Phil Jaques at third man to the extent that it carried over his head and dropped inside the line of the boundary rope just behind him. It proved an expensive miss, though not substantially more costly than a later error by the same fieldsman at third slip and another by captain Michael Slater in the gully in the space of one Nathan Bracken (1/85) over to Saker early in his innings.Phelps and Richards kickstarted a much-needed recovery with a plucky association that helped to demystify any complexities in the pitch. Phelps played and missed twice in the opening over of the innings but the pair soon settled, driving expertly through the off side and helping themselves to a diet of runs to leg as the Tasmanian pacemen strayed in line.They were also aided by the absence from the attack of regular new ball bowler Damien Wright, whose ongoing battle with a thigh injury means that he will probably only return to the bowling crease if desperately needed.But the whip hand remained Tasmania’s, and the locals must fancy their chances of securing the six points they require to all but guarantee their passage to next week’s Pura Cup Final.If Phelps had not survived arguably the most beseeching lbw appeal of the summer as Jurgensen (0/16) lured him into padding up to an off cutter in the concluding over of the day, the home team’s advantage would have been even more manifest.

Somerset will be heartened by the news that they will have the services of their two England contract players Andy Caddick and Marcus Trescothick for the championship match against Surrey that starts at The Oval on Friday.Earlier today chief executive Peter Anderson told me: "We have received confirmation from Duncan Fletcher that both of our England players are available for the Surrey match."The chief continued: "Clearly with the injury to Richard Johnson this will come as a boost to us, especially as Steffan Jones will also be making his comeback in the same match."He went on: "From an England perspective this makes sense because this is a top fixture with class players in it played on a test match ground."Regarding the teams performances so far this season he told me: "One of the joys of cricket is that nothing is ever certain, and whereas Somerset are playing well in county championship, our one day form has been very very poor."He continued: "The amazing thing about this is that the coach and the players have really analysed what made us such a success last year and knowing that we haven’t been able to put it into practice on the field this year. This is as much of a mystery to the players as it is to the coach."The chief concluded: "My own guess would be that it is all to do with confidence. Cricket more than any other is game of confidence, and you can’t coach confidence."

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has approved the reprimand which its President, Pat Rousseau, gave to West Indies players, Mervyn Dillon and Dinanath Ramnarine, following the third Cable & Wireless Test match in Barbados (March 29 to April 2).Approval of Rousseau’s action came at a meeting of the Board in Antigua on Wednesday, April 11. Board members agreed with the president’s strong reprimand of the two cricketers for their behaviour while batting at the end of the fifth day of the third Test between the West Indies and South Africa. Rousseau was at Kensington Oval in Barbados on the final day of the match.Both players have been advised that their actions were not in the bestinterests of West Indies cricket and would be severely dealt with ifrepeated.

• It was the 1716th ODI in cricket history.
• It was West Indies’ 422nd and South Africa’s 227th match.
• It was the 23rd match between these two sides. The record now reads: South Africa 16, West Indies 7.
• Umpires Billy Doctrove and Eddie Nicholls were officiating in their 10th and 26th match respectively.
• The sixth wicket partnership of 61 runs between Brian Lara and Ridley Jacobs was West Indies’ best for this wicket against South Africa. This obliterated the previous highest of 46 between Marlon Samuels and Jacobs in the previous match.
• Brian Lara (92) became a victim of nervous ninety for the fourth time in his career. His other scores in 90s are: 95* v Pakistan at Port-of-Spain on 26-03-1993, 90 v Australia at Perth on 12-01-1997 and 93 v England at Port-of-Spain on 08-04-1998. Now only Richie Richardson (6) has more scores in nineties than Lara for West Indies. Lara moved ahead of Gordon Greenidge, Viv Richards and Desmond Haynes who each has three 90s on his name. This was also the first score in ninety’ for West Indies against South Africa.
• Lara also became the 17th batsman in ODI history to make four or more scores in ninety. The list is headed by Sri Lanka’s Aravinda de Silva with 8 such instances. The details:

  Batsman Country 90s 99sAravinda de Silva SL 8 0Mohammad Azharuddin Ind 7 0Richie Richardson WI 6 1Dean Jones Aus 6 1Martin Crowe NZ 6 0Sachin Tendulkar Ind 6 0Krish Srikkanth Ind 5 1Hansie Cronje SA 5 0Nathan Astle NZ 5 0Allan Lamb Eng 4 1Ijaz Ahmed Pak 4 0Grant Flower Zim 4 0Ajay Jadeja Ind 4 0Saeed Anwar Pak 4 0Inzamam-ul-Haq Pak 4 0Allan Border Aus 4 0Brian Lara WI 4 0

• Kallis’ figures (4-22) were best by a South African against West Indies in West Indies. He bettered Allan Donald’s 4 for 38 in the previous match at Grenada.
• Kallis has now taken 23 wickets in 12 matches against West Indiesmost for South Africa. Allan Donald and Hansie Cronje are jointly placed second with 19 wickets each.
• Herschelle Gibbs (107), on 46,completed his 2000 runs in the shorter version of the game. He was playing his 68th match and innings. He became eighth South African and 92nd batsman in the world to reach this landmark.
• Gibbs’ innings equalled the highest by a South African against West Indies in West Indies. Jacques Kallis had made the identical score in the third match of this series at Grenada.
• The hundred was Gibbs’ second in this series (he had made 104 at St.John’s on May 2nd). He has now joined three other countrymen who have scored two hundreds in a series (or competition). The accompanying table has the details:

  100s Batsman For Season Series/To’ment Mts Inns NO Runs HS Ave 502 Gary Kirsten SA 1995-96 Sharjah Cup 5 5 1 356 115* 89.00 12 Jacques Kallis SA 1998-99 [NZ] 7 6 0 323 100 53.83 22 Nicky Boje SA 2000-01 [NZ] 6 6 2 355 129 88.75 12 HH Gibbs SA 2000-01 [WI] 5 5 0 292 107 58.40 0

• The victory in this match sealed the series in South Africa’s favour. South Africa also ended West Indies’ remarkable run at home soil. Out of the 22 bilateral series prior to this one, West Indies won as many as 17, drew three and lost only two (including a one off match series against Sri Lanka in 1995-96). The only other team to beat West Indies in a series of atleast three matches in West Indies is Australia which clinched the five match series in 1990-91 by 4-1 margin.
• The Man of Match award was fifth for Herschelle Gibbs.
  

Barring extended rain or any other unforeseen happening today,Barbados should subject the Windward Islands to their fifth successivedefeat and keep alive their slim hopes of winning the Busta Cup.Set 335 from a minimum of 115 overs after an enterprising, excitingdisplay from Philo Wallace and Sean Armstrong, rock-bottom Windwardsshowed more resilience than they have all season in the 25 overs theyfaced before the close.They reached 67 for two, principally anchored by their solid 18-yearold opening batsman Romel Currency. He batted though until the end inthe company of the Windwards’ most dangerous batsman, Junior Murray.Murray, however, should take been back in the pavilion, but Ryan Hindsmissed an easy chance at extra-cover from a long-hop off leg-spinnerDave Marshall.The Windwards have lost each of the four previous matches and have ahighest score was 257.Barbados owed their commanding position to their healthy first inningsadvantage of 142 and it was impressively built on by a second-wicketstand of 111 between Wallace and Armstrong.Wallace, under the microscope after a string of low scores, was theWallace of old, clobbering the ball with typical power in an inningsof 78.Armstrong, who joined Wallace after Adrian Griffith departed for abreezy 18, was not as forceful, but was just as effective in playingsome scintillating strokes in completing his second half-century ofthe tournament.Most eyes, however, were on Wallace following his first-ball duck inthe first innings. Interestingly enough, he took first strike for thefirst time in the tournament and was immediately into stride.Whenever the Windwards bowlers dropped a trifle short, they weredisdainfully pulled away. Leg-spinner Orlando Jackson was twicedespatched over mid-wicket and onto the big scoreboard.In addition to those two sixes, Wallace also belted eight fours. Somewere pulls, some were extra-cover drives and some were guided over theheads of the slips. Armstrong, in one over from left-arm fast-mediumDeighton Butler, hit three successive boundaries – a cut, a lofted ondrive and a pull. But his most memorable shot was a stylish short-armpull in his unique manner.The No. 3 batsman reached his half-century with eight fours, but soonfell on 53 to a ball from leg-spinner Rawl Lewis that bounced, tookthe glove of the batsman and the wicket-keeper and ended in a juggledcatch to Devon Smith at slip.Wallace followed in the next over. After another of his ferociouspulls, he drove the next delivery down the throat of Smith at extracover.In the brief period before tea, Roland Holder and Courtney Browne werecontent to defend, but both perished soon after the interval whenBarbados were looking to increase the tempo.A few meaty blows from Hendy Bryan, whose unbeaten 29 came off 28balls, allowed Barbados to make the declaration a bit earlier thanmost anticipated. It was made 40 minutes after the break with thetotal 192 for five off 50 overs.There was immediate success for Barbados with Corey Collymore inducingteenager Devon Smith into edging a catch to the keeper from a ballthat bounced nicely.Out came Kirsten Casmir to play the type of strokes he unleashedduring his 63 against the Leeward Islands on debut in the previousround of matches.The little Dominican smacked five boundaries in 28 before gifting hiswicket to an inexcusable cross-batted swing against Ryan Austin’sflighted off-break.By then, Currency was batting as solid as ever. He resumes thismorning on 22 as a key figure in the Windwards’ plans to earn theirfirst point of the tournament. He is so well-organised that it is hardto believe that he has never once converted any of his promisingstarts into a significant contribution. Today is his chance.Murray is another player who could hold up Barbados with hisforthright, aggressive methods. He ended the day on 14, five more thanhe should have gotten, courtesy of Hinds’ miss.Earlier, Barbados polished off the Windwards tail by claiming the lastthree wickets 22 after the visitors resumed on 103 for seven.