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He must have been the only man inside a sodden Aintree who needed more water.. West Indies dismissed the South Africans for 247 just before lunch on day two of the Fourth Test in Antigua yesterday. The Caribbean side, for so long a showcase for the fastest bowlers in the world, have remarkably included only two pacemen for this crucial contest, opting on a rookie spinner instead, but it was one of quicks, Mervyn Dillon, who swiftly finished off the tourists with two wickets in two balls at the Recreation Grounds in St John’s. Then the home side’s openers, Wavell Hinds and Chris Gayle, managed to survive four overs before the interval. West Indies dismissed the South Africans for 247 just before lunch on day two of the Fourth Test in Antigua yesterday. The Caribbean side, for so long a showcase for the fastest bowlers in the world, have remarkably included only two pacemen for this crucial contest, opting on a rookie spinner instead, but it was one of quicks, Mervyn Dillon, who swiftly finished off the tourists with two wickets in two balls at the Recreation Grounds in St John’s.

Then the home side’s openers, Wavell Hinds and Chris Gayle, managed to survive four overs before the interval.
The two overnight batsmen, the South African captain Shaun Pollock and Nicky Boje, began cautiously as Pollock’s opposite number, Carl Hooper, continued to show faith in the left-arm spin of Neil McGarrell, who had taken four wickets on the first day.McGarrell, a Guyanese who is playing in his First Test after he was unexpectedly called into the squad, was initially used in tandem with Courtney Walsh from the start. Resuming on 210 for 7, the South Africans looked for singles in the early overs, opting for consolidation rather than aggression.But the left-handed Boje, an all-rounder of some distinction with adhesive batting complimenting his own brand of left-arm spin, did prove the exception on one occasion, stepping down the wicket to loft McGarrell back over his head for six.Shortly afterwards, however, Boje became Walsh’s 509th Test wicket when he was adjudged leg before by umpire Srinivas Venkataraghavan for 36. Television replays clearly showed that the ball pitched outside leg stump.The eighth-wicket partnership with Pollock, who was later stranded on 48 not out, was worth 75 runs and came at a crucial time for South Africa after they had collapsed to 148 for 7 on Friday afternoon thanks to the unaccustomed wiles of McGarrell.All-rounder Justin Kemp, who had replaced the injured Allan Donald, survived a very confident appeal for lbw first ball from Walsh, but this time umpire Venkat decided in the batsman’s favour. Kemp, having scored 16, eventually lost his wicket playing across a full-length ball from Dillon that clattered into his off-stump.Dillon then wrapped up the innings with his next delivery by bowling Makhaya Ntini too, breaking the off-stump in half in the process.With the bowlers having clung on for a draw in Barbados, West Indies, need to avoid defeat in this match in order to go into the final Test, at Sabina Park in Jamaica, only one down in the series. Questionable tactics to delay a dreadful collapse at the Kensington Oval have left the tourists eager for revenge.. In the darkest days of winter, when Ian Salisbury was proving unsurprisingly ineffective on the spinning pitches of Pakistan, the gloom was briefly lifted by a suggestion that England might have a leg-spinning all-rounder capable of playing Test cricket A player who could even feature in the coming Ashes series. In the darkest days of winter, when Ian Salisbury was proving unsurprisingly ineffective on the spinning pitches of Pakistan, the gloom was briefly lifted by a suggestion that England might have a leg-spinning all-rounder capable of playing Test cricket.

A player who could even feature in the coming Ashes series.
It came as a bit of a surprise to learn that Shane Warne, curse of batsmen around the globe and one of Wisden’s five cricketers of the last century, was referring to his team-mate at Hampshire, the 28-year-old Giles White. Those familiar with the name will have conjured up images of a stylish opening batsman, not a potential twirly-man with an arsenal of googlies, leggies and flippers.”White mucked around with a few leg-spinners and was a bit of a part-timer,” said Warne “But we’ve worked on him for the summer in England. He’s starting to come on really well and he could play Test cricket within the next couple of years. Maybe even this year against the Aussies in the Ashes series We’ll just keep working on him and maybe he’ll come good. He could play as an all-rounder, maybe batting five or six and bowling.”After a spell this winter working in his wife’s events-organising business, White found himself in Australia, living with and learning from the best. “Warney asked me in the summer if I wanted to come to Melbourne,” explained White.