Date-stamped : 24 Jul95 - 22:26 Tour Match: Middlesex v West Indies Lord's, London, 22, 23, 24 July 1995 ====> Day 1, 22 Jul 95 Misfit Tufnell shows he has plenty to offer - Peter Deeley First day of three: Middlesex v W Indies (346-6) IT was England`s own loss that Phil Tufnell was unlikely to enter the thoughts of the selectors as they went into their weekend huddle prior to the Old Trafford Test. For various reasons - most unrelated to his cricketing ability - the Middlesex spinner seems condemned to sit on the sidelines of international cricket. Yet he showed on a pitch suited to the West Indies stroke-players that he probably has no peer in the English game as a slow bowler who actually attacks the batsman and might even win matches - particularly at Manchester where we are promised a pitch with something in it for the spinner. In two spells, Tufnell removed the three tourists who had contri- buted most to West Indies close-of-play total of 346 for six and finished with three for 79 off 31 overs. First he dismissed century-maker Sherwin Campbell, who chopped a ball on to his stumps. Then Tufnell bowled Brian Lara round his legs and finally claimed Shivnarine Chanderpaul with a delivery that hurried through. All this after he had taken a fair amount of punishment from the two left-handers. Lara, here as stand-in captain, had looked unusually edgy at the start of his innings on the back of his first pair at Kent in the previous match. But within an hour-and-a-quarter he had ironed out the wrinkles in his game with a half-century off 58 balls, including eight boundaries and a six. Yet the world`s most prolific runscorer had earned only 21 runs and must have been very close to falling leg before to Tufnell off the fourth delivery he faced. It took Lara 11 balls to get off the mark, but he then launched into Tufnell, hitting four boundaries in an over, three of them wristily through the leg field. Tufnell`s first 18 overs of the day had produced only 31 runs but, in the next three, the two West Indian left-handers punished him for another 28. He might have had Chanderpaul`s wicket with his first ball after lunch when the young man was on 13 and went down the pitch to drive a full toss outside off. The batsman missed, but wicket- keeper Keith Brown - spoken of in some quarters as the substitute for the injured Alec Stewart at Old Trafford - missed the stump- ing chance. Kevin Shine, in his second game of the season, had Carl Hooper leg before playing across the line, but Campbell then took com- mand. He pulled Shine to reach his 50 in 69 balls and then pulled Mark Feltham for six, progressing to his second century of the tour in three hours and hitting 13 boundaries and a six. While Campbell has been the West Indies success story on tour, it was Lara`s return to form which pleased the tourists ahead of the Old Trafford Test. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com) ====> Day 2, 23 Jul 95 Tufnell haul does not impress the selectors - Peter Deeley Second day of three: Middlesex (215-7) trail West Indians (456) by 241 runs THE generous Sunday crowd gave more than #1,000 to a testimonial collection for an England spinner who has just re-emerged from comparative obscurity to Test prominence. All that another former England slow bowler got for his pains was a haul of West Indies wickets and a groin niggle. John Emburey, who popped into the ground, is not playing in this match. Phil Tufnell is, and produced the kind of figures -six for 111 off 40 overs - which would normally create an instant groundswell calling for his return to international status. Unfortunately, he has blotted his copybook, principally with off-field antics, and there is as much chance of Edgbaston groundsman Steve Rouse winning an excellence award from Michael Atherton as Tufnell regaining Test status. England chairman Ray Illingworth said the selectors had given Tufnell "a thought". That, sadly, is as far as it goes for a bowler who on his day has all the aggression one could wish for in a match-winning spinner. These were Tufnell`s best figures for two years and he enjoyed plenty of bounce when bowling from the Nursery End, which ac- counted for Ottis Gibson being caught at slip. Then Curtly Am- brose was picked up in the deep and Keith Arthurton, after a pol- ished 83, was taken bat-pad. Ambrose`s fitness, after injuring a groin at Edgbaston, was one of the chief talking points of West Indies` day. In his first outing since then, he looked lethally ready for Old Trafford. Paul Weekes was removed second ball, via pads on to the stumps, and the only two scoring strokes in Ambrose`s first seven- over spell were two gloriously struck boundaries through the covers by Mark Ramprakrash, who then tried to hook Keith Benjamin and Am- brose took the catch at long leg. John Carr battled against superior forces to be within one run of his fourth hundred of the season at the close, with the crowd booing what they considered to be slowcoach West Indian tactics. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com) ====> Day 3, 24 Jul 95 Frustration for Lara as barren spell continues - Peter Deeley Middlesex (237 & 52-0) drew with West Indians (456 & 213) SCHOOL`S out for the summer holidays and the scene was set yes- terday for all the youngsters who had come to see the world`s most prolific run-scorer of modern times break a run of 20 in- nings without a century. They were to be disappointed, however. Brian Lara managed a meagre 17 runs off 38 deliveries before finding himself stranded two strides down the pitch to Paul Weekes. When Keith Brown broke the stumps, Lara kept on walking, still in search of those three-figure scores which once seemed second nature to him. His last century - the only one since his record 375 against Eng- land - was 147 off the New Zealand bowling in the Wellington Test in February. On the West Indies` current tour of this country, Lara has scored 513 runs at little over 42. Although the machine still appears to be functioning, there is some flaw in the works. Lara, acting captain for this game, was upstaged on his own side by Keith Arthurton, who scored two half-centuries of quality. And the innings of most note in the game came from Lara`s opposite number in the Middlesex side, John Carr. Carr, stand-in captain for Mike Gatting, was 99 not out over- night, and there was only just time to reach his fourth century of the summer with his 14th four, driving Rajindra Dhanraj, be- fore Carr charged the spinner to give Junior Murray an easy stumping. Dhanraj finished with four for 66 but despite being the West In- dies` leading wicket-taker on the tour, with 36 at 22 runs apiece but, is unlikely to gain a Test place because of the tourists` heavy emphasis on pace. The West Indians, 219 ahead on the first innings, eschewed the follow-on but, if they thought they were in for a quiet day`s batting practice, there were surprises in store, largely due to Mark Feltham, who returned a career-best six for 41. Carl Hooper hit a sparkling half-century then played the careless shot which is sadly his hallmark, mistiming a pull off Feltham to deep square leg. Kenneth Benjamin hit four sixes - two in succes- sive balls off Weekes and another brace off Mark Ramprakrash - before he was ninth man out. No-one seemed to know whether the West Indians had declared or their innings was closed. It then took a call to Sherwin Campbell in the dressing room to discover that he had a swollen finger and would not be batting. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by The Management (help@*ogi.edu)