Walsh superlative again on a day that wickets fall

Courtney Walsh showed what the West Indians had been missing in the NatWest Series. He returned to the side for the Vodafone Challenge match against Yorkshire at Leeds and took 5-19 in 16 overs of high-class bowling.

Courtney Walsh - high-class bowling cuts through Yorkshire's lower-order Photo © CricInfo

The Jamaican, who aims to improve on his 467 wickets when the Third Test Match starts at Manchester, came back to the attack to dismiss the last three county batsmen in five balls. The raw Yorkshire batting, of whom John Inglis and Scott Richardson were making their first appearance, could not cope with Walsh on a pitch favourable to his bowling.

Walsh was rested after he had Richardson caught by Wavell Hinds at short-leg for 3. From 26-4 the left-handed fifth-wicket pairing of David Byas and Vic Craven (53) added another seventy runs with the latter hitting nine boundaries in his half-century from 115 balls. Eventually Hinds caught him magnificently off Corey Collymore, and Byas was left stranded on 41 n.o. from 107 balls as the innings collapsed to Walsh.

Yorkshire were dismissed for 126 in 63 overs, and then struck back. Lesroy Weekes, a West Indian who has lived in Yorkshire for six years and has been playing League and county 2nd XI cricket, took the first three wickets in a 3-16 burst in 8 overs. When Hinds was caught at the wicket and followed Chris Gayle, Adrian Griffith and Sherwin Campbell back in the pavilion, the tourists were in trouble at 38-4.

Jimmy Adams took advantage of the slight relaxation in pressure with Weekes rested and Paul Hutchison off the field with an injury to his shoulder, and he defended while Ramnaresh Sarwan played his strokes to take the West Indians to 83-4 by the close.