West Indians fight hard to restore pride

The West Indian batsmen have nearly emerged unscathed from the first challenge of their second innings in the match against Western Australia at the WACA Ground in Perth.

At the end of day two, the tourists are 1/31, after the loss of Daren Ganga just three overs before stumps. Ganga (8), who occupied the crease for fifty-two minutes, may have been unlucky to be out caught behind off the bowling of Brendon Julian. Even though there appeared to be some sort of a noise, the jury is still out on whether the leg side ball did in fact make contact with his bat, and certainly Ganga was not happy about the decision. Still, the 21-year-old did improve on his first innings duck, striking a boundary off Steve Nikitaris along the way.

The West Indies now trail by 195 runs, with nine wickets in hand. Sherwin Campbell (19*) and nightwatchman Marlon Black (0*) are the batsmen at the crease.

Earlier in the day, they failed to hold their chances against the Warrior batsmen, dropping Matthew Nicholson (54) twice and Tom Moody (36) once. Nicholson, in particular, took full advantage of his good fortune, notching up his second first-class fifty. His other half century came in the corresponding game against the English tourists in 1998, where he injured Mark Butcher with the first ball of the match. Nicholson's knock followed his three-wicket haul in the West Indian first innings collapse. He also broke tailender Kerry Jeremy's jaw with a nasty bouncer yesterday.

The most impressive of the Warrior batsmen was Simon Katich. Awarded an Australian Cricket Board contract in season 1999-2000, Katich today showed why he is regarded as one of Australia's most exciting young batsmen during his three-and-a-quarter hour stay at the crease. His confident innings of 73 off 123 balls contained twelve boundaries, including three off one Mervyn Dillon over.

He eventually fell early in the last session, to a Jimmy Adams catch off Colin Stuart. Black (4/100) was the best bowler for the tourists, claiming Julian, Nikitaris and Gavin Swan to add to his dismissal of Mike Hussey yesterday. Sending Julian back to the pavilion would have been especially sweet for Black, who was hit for a six and two fours by the lanky paceman.

Stuart finished with 3/84 off his 21 overs while Dillon (1/91) and Adams (1/41) were the other wicket takers.

After yesterday's poor start, the tourists will be relieved with their batting performance so far in this innings, but need to stay in as long as possible to come away with a positive result. The Warrior bowlers, on the other hand, will be fresh, keen and eager tomorrow to rip through the line-up in the hope of an early finish.