The present West Indian pace is not in the same class and it calls for more imaginative captaincy to winkle sides out.. He kept them on and looked increasingly surprised as if he were a lion tamer in a circus who suddenly found his charges would not perform for him. He did not know what to do.When he did not turn to Carl Hooper, whose off-breaks have looked dangerous whenever he has been used in Port of Spain, it was further evidence that he was working to a pre-arranged plan. When Atherton and Stewart survived the opening assault a more astute captain might at that point have given Hooper a short spell.
While it was imperative he took wickets, he also had to make sure that too many runs were not given away It is never easy to get the balance just right. Lara showed that he understood the problem though when, right from the start, he used a third man and a fine leg.This meant that all he could find for his illustrious pair of opening bowlers was three slips. When after 10 overs Kenny Benjamin took over from Walsh, he was given only one slip when he bowled at Alec Stewart, who had gone for his strokes from the start.Lara alternated his four fast bowlers but still that elusive first wicket would not fall. ON THIS heavily cracked pitch, which is well grassed in places and bare in others, it seemed almost certain it would be the West Indies four fast bowlers who would take them to victory. A week ago, England were looking to their seamers to win the second Test match for them - and we all know what happened then. Brian Lara started the day with Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose and the West Indies went about their business as if it had been ordained that these two would start England's downfall It was almost as if they were going through the motions.
Not only did they fail to take wickets, however, but the runs began to come rather too freely for Lara's liking. He found himself facing the age old dilemma. Agassi captured his first title in 18 months with a brilliant display of serves, returns of serves and groundstrokes at the Sybase Open. He said after the match that he was aiming at the No 1 ranking this year and looking to fight it out with Sampras in the French Open final.Britain will play Ukraine in Group One of the Euro-African Zone of the Davis Cup for the second successive year when the two countries meet in Newcastle in April.Britain's No 1, Greg Rusedski, has dropped one place to No 9 in the latest world rankings, but Tim Henman, the No 2, climbed one place to 17th despite three successive first-round defeats.. She is the second seed in the singles, and has a first-round bye.Graf said: "I felt fine and really enjoyed playing I tried not to cry but it was too difficult Eight months out is a long time and I was very nervous But now I've taken the first step. My knee is in a good state and the doctor did a really good job."Andre Agassi beat the world No 1, Pete Sampras, 6-2, 6-4, in San Jose, California, on Sunday. Graf, 28, had not played since undergoing a knee operation shortly after last year's French Open but returned to partner Barbara Rittner to overcome their fellow Germans Meike Babel and Wiltrud Probst,6-3, 6-1, in the first-round doubles match at the WTA tournament. Graf, who has slipped to 49 in the world although she has a protected ranking of three, shed tears of joy after the 67-minute match as she received a standing ovation from the 3,700 spectators.
