West Indies Domestic: Marshall law!

Roseau - Dave Marshall rediscovered the meaning of quality leg-spin bowling here yesterday.

With his place in the Barbados team questioned in some quarters, the ebullient Marshall once more exposed glaring weaknesses in the Windward Islands' batting on the opening day of the critical fourth round Busta Cup match. Brought on after only nine overs, Marshall broke an encouraging opening stand and went on to record career-best figures of seven for 49 in 19.1 overs of controlled stuff.

On a day in which the start was delayed until after lunch because of a damp area close to the square, Marshall made fools out of batsmen who were either tentative or lost their patience in trying to smash him out of the small, scenic Botanic Gardens. As a result, joint secondplaced Windwards could only raise a paltry total, in an innings lasting less than four hours and only 58.1 overs.

Barbados faced ten overs without bother before captain Philo Wallace and Sherwin Campbell accepted an offer to go off for fading light at 5:52 p.m. The batting for most of the day was reminiscent to the type of irresponsible batting displays that have become commonplace for the Windwards. Their two most experienced players, Junior Murray and Roy Marshall were out like schoolboys, playing across the line of Marshall's leg-breaks, while their most technically sound batsman, captain Rawl Lewis, also went to a skied catch.

Murray and Marshall were tying to repair a top-order collapse in which the Windwards slipped from 36 without loss to 40 for three when Marshall, one of two local boys in the team, skied a catch to Adrian Griffith coming in off the cover boundary. Murray fell after a crossbatted swing, inexcusable for a player of his experience, was comfortably held at cover.

Murray's 28 and Lewis' 22 were not enough against a Barbados team searching for maximum points to keep in contention for a place in the semifinals. The champs suffered an immediate setback when Dayne Maynard, after delivering only four overs, in chasing a ball from midoff to long-off, fell to ground and strained ligaments to the back of his right knee.

The big fast bowler was taken to hospital, but returned later with news from a doctor that he should be well enough to bowl in the second innings. In his absence, Marshall grabbed the chance to rebound from his disappointing efforts since his six-wicket haul in the opening innings of the tournament.

He was never afraid to flight the ball despite being hoisted for sixes by Roy Marshall, Lewis and Nixon McLean. In the end, the 27-year-old had the final say against each, with McLean also sending a ball skywards to be caught at cover. The fair-sized crowd at the ground, which is hosting its first first-class match in nearly three decades, would have been disappointed with what transpired after Devon Smith and Kester Sylvester posted 36 for the first wicket.