Reifer leads Bajan charge

The eyes were back and forth at the Windward Club ground yesterday. One minute they were focussed on what was happening in the middle on the second day of the second-round Carib Beer Series match between Barbados and India "A".

The next they were looking back at the television sets to follow that titanic World Cup clash between West Indies and South Africa inCape Town.

With most of the attention centred on the World Cup, there was a predictable drop in the spectator turnout at Lucas Street, but the crowd swelled appreciably after 4:30 p.m. following the West Indies' monumental win over the pre-match favourites.

By then Barbados had built on their impregnable first day position, mainly with the help of Floyd Reifer's seventh first-class hundred, Ian Bradshaw's solid half-century and a last-wicket half-century stand that involved Bradshaw and last man Antonio Thomas.

India "A", thoroughly outplayed over the first two days, trail by 262 runs and will require something Very Very Special from captain VVS Laxman or someone else if they are to deny Barbados a second successive victory either today or tomorrow.

The hosts gradually increased the tempo during the course of a day in which they scored 301 runs before they were dismissed just before the close for 463.

The left-handed Reifer entered the fray just before Barbados took first innings honours in the morning session and blossomed after a careful beginning to play typically sweet strokes.

His 105 off 184 balls was made in four hours and included eight fours and four sixes. Two of those came in one over from medium-pacer Jai Yadav, in the direction of square-leg and mid-wicket.

On both occasions there was an element of danger for those beyond the boundary. The first sent the kids on the tennis courts scampering and the second had journalists trying to protect their lap-top computers.

"I thought it was a pretty good innings. The team plan was to bat all day, so I just put down my head and batted," Reifer said.

"We had a good start from the openers. There was less pressure.

"India bowled pretty well. They bowled a bit negative. That was their game plan. They had to pull back the game and I thought they bowled pretty well."

This was Reifer's sixth century at this level, but it was not one he rated among his best.

"This was a good innings, but I can't really compare it with the rest. Each hundred is different. With this one, the team needed me to bat the whole day," he said.

"Every time you go to bat, it is not the same. Conditions are different, situations are different. I try to adapt to the situation."

India "A" toiled for most of the day after an encouraging first session in which they denied the overnight pair of Sherwin Campbell and Philo Wallace what appeared to be inevitable centuries on the evidence of the previous evening.

Campbell, 82 at the start, fell for 89, lbw to the tall fast bowler Tinu Youhannan to a delivery which kept a trifle low.

Wallace, who resumed on 68, was mainly watchful for an hour and 20 minutes before hitting a catch to cover off the back foot from the previously innocuous medium-pace of Rakish Patel when he was ten shy of a hundred.

The Indians claimed three wickets for 64 before lunch, but Barbados took the match away from them in the next two sessions.

Between lunch and tea when scoring was better than a run-a-minute, the impetus was provided by the quick-fire contributions of Courtney Browne, whose 24 came from only 22 balls and the even more electrifying Ryan Hurley, who needed just 11 balls to rattle up 20.

Both went to Murali Kartik, a left-arm spinner who played against the West Indies during last year's One-Day International series in India.

Kartik was the visitors' most successful bowler and apart from removing Browne and Hurley, he added the scalp of Kurt Wilkinson to a bad-pad catch for a duck. He also took the last two wickets to finish with five for 105 from 38.5 overs.

The last came at the end of a frustrating stand for India "A" in which Bradshaw and Antonio Thomas added 53.

Bradshaw, typically unflustered, shepherded the lower order after Reifer fell at 394 for seven. His unbeaten 58, which occupied three hours, contained seven boundaries off 129 balls.