India's mixed fortunes

West Indies 296 & 118-1 India 436

India gained a first-innings lead of 140 but a lifeless pitch depressed their spin bowlers as much as it had done the West Indies pace and they could make little advance towards victory on the fourth day of the second Test yesterday.

They resumed at 367 for 3, already ahead by 71, and clearly seeking acceleration towards a mid-afternoon declaration and a lead of something in excess of 200. But they were constrained by accurate and incisive fast bowling by Curtly Ambrose and the latest off the West Indies production line of fast bowlers, the 22-year-old Mervyn Dillon, and limped to 436 all out 20 minutes into the final session. They did dispatch opener Sherwin Campbell early in the West Indies' second innings, but Stuart Williams and Shivnarine Chanderpaul batted through to to the close when the West Indies were 118 for 1, just 22 behind.

Things started to go wrong for the Indians from the second over when the left-hander, Saurav Ganguly, was spectacularly caught at cover by Chanderpaul off the fast bowler Franklyn Rose. Navjot Singh Sidhu, on 196 at the start duly became the 11th Indian to score a Test double-hundred but was immediately bowled off his pads by an Ambrose yorker for 201 after batting for just over 11 hours.

Six went in the two hours of the morning session for a measly 53 and Ambrose rounded off the innings soon after resumption from the first interval with his fifth wicket. Dillon lost little by comparison and finished with three deserving wickets for 92. In Dillon and Rose, man of the match in his debut in the drawn first Test in Kingston, the West Indies have unearthed a promising pair.

Fourth day; West Indies won toss

WEST INDIES - First Innings 296 (R I Holder 91; A Kumble 5-104).

INDIA - First Innings

(Overnight: 367 for 3)

N S Sidhu b Ambrose 201

S Ganguly c Chanderpaul b Rose 6

M Azharuddin b Ambrose 1

N R Mongia b Dillon 17

A Kumble not out 12

S Joshi c Walsh b Ambrose 24

A Kuruvilla c Murray b Dillon 2

B V K Prasad c Lara b Dillon 0

Extras (b9 lb11 nb8) 28

Total 436

Fall (cont): 4-370 5-371 6-382 7-401 8-420 9-420.

Bowling: Ambrose 41.4-10-87-5 (nb1); Walsh 36-11-71-0 (nb2); Rose 35- 6-93-1 (nb4); Dillon 35-6-92-3 (nb1); Hooper 28-9-53-0; Chanderpaul 8- 1-20-0.

WEST INDIES -Second Innings

S L Campbell lbw b Kuruvilla 4

S C Williams not out 63

S Chanderpaul not out 39

Extras (b2 lb9 nb1) 12

Total (for 1) 118

Fall: 1-25.

To bat: B C Lara, C L Hooper, R I Holder, J R Murray, C E L Ambrose, F A Rose, *C A Walsh, M Dillon.

Bowling: Prasad 11-4-19-0; Kuruvilla 10-4-16-1 (nb1); Kumble 20-7-44- 0; Joshi 9-4-13-0; Ganguly 3-0-6-0; Laxman 6-2-9-0.

Umpires: L Barker (WI) and S Randell (Aus).