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Windies score sensational victory

The West Indies' fast bowling quartet rolled back the years and fired their side to a sensational 35-run, come-from-behind triumph over Zimbabwe at Queen's Park Oval on the final day of the inaugural Test in Port of Spain on Monday.

Purposeful bowling from Franklyn Rose, who led the way with four wickets for 18 runs from 13 overs, man-of-the-match Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh and Reon King, along with Zimbabwe's cautious approach to a modest target of 99 brought the West Indies back into contention in a match they appeared destined to lose.

If Zimbabwe did not know before, they have now learned the hard way that whenever you have the West Indies on their backs, you need to keep them there. The visitors were bowled out in just under four hours for 63 - their first total under 100 in 40 Tests.

"What satisfied me most was that we never gave up, even though we were not happy with every performance," Jimmy Adams, in his first match as West Indies captain, told reporters afterwards.

"Throughout, the objective was always to come back the next day and make up for what went wrong the previous day. We have seen it before and we truly believed that Test matches can turn inside of a session - particularly when you have a quartet like ours."

All the West Indies fast bowlers bent their backs on the hard, easy-paced pitch. Ambrose, now joint-second leading West Indies bowler with Malcolm Marshall with 376 wickets, and Walsh (2-18) completed very economical opening spells and were finally given the support they needed from young bucks Rose and King (1-11).

"I thought they bowled really well," Andy Flower, the Zimbabwe captain, said.

"They have quality bowlers and I thought they were backed up well by Rose and King. They did not give us much room to score and they applied the pressure and we just were not good enough to cope with it."

After Walsh made the breakthrough by having Neil Johnson caught at square cover in the fourth over of the innings, King and Rose kept up the pressure by sending back Trevor Gripper and Murray Goodwin in the final half-hour before lunch to leave Zimbabwe 40 for three at the interval.

After lunch, Rose bowled with vigour to claim three wickets, principally that of skipper Flower, who made a century in the first innings, and for once Walsh had to play the supporting role.

"(On Sunday night) Reon King and I were having a chat and we realised that the two senior fast bowlers were doing all the work and getting all the wickets," Rose remarked.

"So we decided it was our time to prove to the team and to the public that we can do it as well."

Flower, driving at a well-pitched delivery, got an inside edge and gave a catch to wicketkeeper Ridley Jacobs off Rose shortly after the resumption.

When Flower's brother, Grant, who had anchored the innings with the top score of 26, was bowled to become Walsh's 430th wicket in 113 Tests, Zimbabwe were 51 for five.

West Indies are predators when they are in this mood, so what occurred over the next hour was quite typical for them. Zimbabwe lost their last five wickets for 12 runs, but the big blow came when Alistair Campbell, whose rich form before the Test prompted great expectations, played a horrible cross-batted stroke at a wide ball from Ambrose and dragged it into his stumps leaving his side 62 for eight.

Earlier, the West Indies were dismissed for 147 in their second innings as fast-medium bowler Heath Streak needed just three minutes and six balls to make King edge a ball moving away to wicketkeeper Andy Flower to end the innings. Streak ended with five wickets for 27 runs from 18 overs and match figures of nine for 72. It was the fifth time in 28 Tests Streak has taken five wickets or more in an innings.

Walsh is now just four short of Kapil Dev's record of 434 Test victims and will be aiming to pass that mark when the second and final Test of the series begins in Kingston, Jamaica, on Friday.