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Best flogs England but falls short of record..
The Report by David Hopps
June 10, 2012
Tino Best fell five short of becoming the first No. 11 to score a Test century © AFP
Lunch West Indies 426 (Ramdin 107*, Best 95, Onions 4-88) v England
Tino Best, whose career as a Test batsman was previously best known for Andrew Flintoff's "mind the windows" jibe at Lord's eight years ago, struck back with the innings of his life on his return to the West Indies Test side, a fantastical affair that shattered England's faint chances of winning the Edgbaston Test in the process.
All that was lacking was the first century by a No. 11 batsman in Test cricket. He fell five runs short, deceived by a slower ball by Graham Onions, trying to hack it over long on for his 100 and only reaching England's captain, Andrew Strauss, backtracking at slip. By then everybody outside the England dressing room must have been willing him to make it.
Best scored 95 from 112 balls in a last-wicket stand of 143 - the highest in West Indies Test history and the third best of all time. He is now the proud holder of the highest score by a No. 11 in Test cricket, outdoing Zaheer Khan's 75 for India against Bangladesh in Dhaka eight years ago.
All talk of an England whitewash has now been silenced. Best survived so long that West Indies' wicketkeeper, Denesh Ramdin, who had battled through the second new ball to be 60 not out overnight, made a second Test hundred that he could have barely deemed possible after the ninth wicket fell to the third ball of the morning.
Ramdin moved from 98 to 99 in unfortunate fashion when he struck a straight drive against Steve Finn against the stumps but in the next over he flicked Tim Bresnan to long leg to add to the hundred he also made against England in Barbados in 2009.
When he reached his hundred he yanked a message out of his pocket and shook it meaningfully towards the commentary boxes. "YEH VIV TALK NAH," it said. The scrawled note appeared to be aimed at criticism made by the great West Indian Viv Richards who had remarked after the second Test at Trent Bridge that Ramdin's career had deteriorated markedly. Ramdin's ability to respond when riled rather proved Richards' point about under achievement.
West Indies, who added another 146 to their overnight 280 for 8, were in the ascendancy and the follow-on is only 150 runs because of the time lost to rain, but the pitch favoured the batsmen and unless Best can follow up with even greater heroics with the ball a draw seems inevitable.
The windows remained intact for Best, but his ebullient innings knew few bounds as he joined his fellow Barbadian Wes Hall as only the second West Indies No. 11 to pass fifty in Test cricket. He was only the third No. 11 to make 50 against England in a Test, following Fred Spofforth of Australia and Bert Vogler, and the first to manage it for more than a century.
Best, a tearaway fast bowler who was called into the squad as a replacement for the injured Shannon Gabriel, began with a series of studious drives, not quite how England remembered him, only to then embark upon a series of fulsome lofted off-side drives as Onions, in particular, and Steven Finn repeatedly overpitched. When he did edge the ball, it escaped England's conservative field of two slips and a gully and they suffered for their approach.
England's fielding had also been below its best as they dropped three slip catches on the opening day and Ramdin, who was overshadowed by Best for the first hour, was missed on 69 by Pietersen at gully, a fast catch and the third time in the match that Finn had seen a catch dropped in the cordon off his bowling. West Indies deserved credit but England were not entirely on their mettle.
Graeme Swann was introduced with Best on 37 and twice in his first over he rocked back to drive him through the covers with panache. After five overs, Swann was withdrawn, having never dared to tempt him with something slow and appealing.
A hearty slog against Bresnan, a former Yorkshire team-mate who gazed at the ball lugubriously, took him to 49 before he brought delight to the West Indies players on the dressing room balcony by scampering a single into the offside to reach 50, a moment he celebrated in exuberant style. Ramdin's gentle leg glance against Finn brought up a 100 partnership from 117 balls.
Best's forays also provided entertainment for a sparse Birmingham crowd as England's grouchy summer showed no signs of abating and there seemed to be a widespread assumption that the washed-out first two days had consigned the third Test to a draw.
It had all seemed straightforward for England when they struck with the third ball of the morning, Finn seaming one away at fullish length against Ravi Rampaul for Matt Prior to take the catch. It balanced up England's bowling figures nicely as Finn joined Onions and Bresnan with three wickets each and seemed to confirm England's bank of pace bowling resources ahead of the South Africa series later in the summer, only for Best to sweep aside any complacency.
Having miraculously stuck around long enough for Ramdin to reach 100, Best cast aside what few his inhibitions he had. His first six took him into the 80s, a length ball from Bresnan that he slapped against the sightscreen to whoops from the scattering of West Indies supporters in the meagre crowd.
"Play for me now," he shouted at Ramdin as his visions grew of his own extraordinary Test century. On 82 not out, he called for a chest guard, in anticipation of a barrage of short balls from Finn from around the wicket.
With nine wickets down, the lunch interval was extended for half an hour, a boon for Best who was only 12 runs away from a remarkable hundred. Onions returned when he was 89; Onions angular and stern faced, Best's round face full of smiles. A leading edge almost lobbed up to Jonathan Trott on 93, and he survived an lbw appeal against Trott the next ball. Ramdin refused an impossible single on 95 and he dashed back to his crease. But Onions' slower ball was temptation too much. He walked off with his face hidden in his helmet, an emotional man perhaps disguising a tear or two.
David Hopps is the UK editor of ESPNcricinfo
and England waste a review, great start for WIndies with the ball
Viv 1 - Ramdin - 0.
caught on 95. Superb knock nonetheless
