Lives in Cricket No 30 - MJK Smith

58 return catch to Singh shortly before the close, Mike came in. Next day he saw Barrington reach 121, his second century in successive Tests. Mike went on, aided by the tail, to be ninth out for 108. He had played a crucial part in steering England to 382. Conrad Hunte and Joe Solomon kept their wickets intact overnight, and a record crowd of some 30,000 thronged the ground on the Saturday confidently expecting to see a strong West Indies reply. But they were in for the rudest of shocks. Trueman and Statham quickly got to work. There were single figure scores for Hunte, Rohan Kanhai, Worrell and Basil Butcher, and a duck for Sobers as the home side crashed to 94 for seven. At this point Charran Singh joined his fellow Trinidadian Ramadhin. The rum-fuelled crowd, many happy to bet on any eventuality in the match, were growing restive at the failure of their batsmen. Three lbw decisions had already aroused their displeasure and everything boiled over when an undoubtedly correct run-out decision was given against Singh, the new local hero. Bottles flew over the boundary from one of the stands and all manner of debris found its way onto the ground as members of the crowd rampaged across the playing area. ‘You don’t know where you stand in a riot,’ Mike says, ‘but you’ve got a pretty good idea you should keep out of it. Brian Statham told me to grab hold of a stump, which I didn’t think was very good advice. A bloke flashed past me and said, “We’re not after you – we’re after that umpire!”’ David Allen’s recollection is that the Royal Yacht Britannia was in port and sailors from the ship helped to escort the England players to safety. Mercifully the Sunday was a rest day, allowing time for sanity to return. It was agreed that lost playing time should be made up over the three remaining days, and the match resumed on the Monday, allowing England to complete their business as West Indies were finally bowled out for 112, with Trueman taking five for 35 and Statham three for 42. May did not enforce the follow- on, preferring to set West Indies an unattainable target in the last innings. Needing 501 to win in ten hours, many of their batsmen failed again, but Kanhai remained defiant, passing his century. The crucial breakthrough came when he drove a full toss from Dexter straight to Mike at midwicket. ‘Ted had this reputation as a golden arm,’ the catcher recalls, ‘he’d get you a wicket when you really needed it.’ This unexpected victory, by 256 runs, put a different complexion In the glare of the Caribbean