Cricket: Ganga Salutes West Indian Team Effort

This may just have been the West Indians' best day of the summer. Since the competition can be narrowed down to the Saturday of the Lord's Test, when their batsmen racked up 363 runs, this is probably not saying much. But if ill-discipline has been the favorite Caribbean lament since the glory days ground to a halt in the 1990s, then yesterday their bowlers concentrated as admirably as Andrew Flintoff in his no-hard-feelings round of interviews about Michael Vaughan.

A total of 296 for seven would probably have prompted an emergency meeting in the era of Holding, Roberts and Garner. But in the 21st century it is cause for high-fives all round, and Daren Ganga was able to reflect on a job competently done.

"It was a very good day for us and we showed our competitiveness throughout," said the captain. "It was a total team effort and that's something we need to try to inculcate our team with. Everyone has to contribute and stay switched on."

For the first hour, the switch was resolutely off. After 10 overs, England had raced to 64 for one for the loss of Andrew Strauss and thoughts were drifting back to the first two Tests, when West Indies' combined first-innings efforts added up to 12 wickets for 1,123 runs. But the afternoon session produced four wickets for 55 runs and a contented "just what the doctor ordered" from Ganga. For a side that has taken 20 wickets in a serious Test away from home only once since the end of their tour here in 2000, it was sweet medicine indeed.

The tourists' public pronouncements since the Headingley debacle have been predictably worthy but essentially hollow. Change was inevitable. Out went Sylvester Joseph and Daren Powell. In came Darren Sammy, the 23-year-old St Lucian all-rounder, for his Test debut, and Fidel Edwards, the slingy fast bowler from Barbados who, bizarrely on this evidence, was overlooked for the first two Tests. Both decisions paid off. Sammy conceded less than two runs an over for the maiden wicket of Alastair Cook, while Edwards provided England's batsmen with their most torrid spell of the series.

He roughed up Paul Collingwood and persuaded Liam Plunkett to back away a split-second before taking out his middle stump and rattled Steve Harmison on the helmet. At one stage he touched 93.5mph. "That was exactly what we expected from Fidel," said Ganga.

Ganga's captaincy provided something different too. He helped dry up the runs after lunch by setting a 7-2 off-side field to Vaughan, and may have taken Cook by surprise by posting a short extra cover. He also refused to dead-bat suggestions that the England dressing room might not have had its mind on the job following the resurrection this week of the Fredalo affair. "It might affect the England players," he said. "It might work to our advantage."

Cook downplayed the issue, saying it was "business as usual". But he added: "It's a shame this has overshadowed what could be a first series win for Mooresy. A bit had been written about Vaughan getting a frosty reception and a few of the crowd played up to it. That was a shame but it was probably light-hearted and there was still plenty of banter with him when we were batting." England need a better day today to preserve the jollity.