In the third part of our countdown towards the Second Investec Test, we look back at the West Indies’ first visit to Durham.
The initial postponement of Day One did not rain on England’s parade as local hero Paul Collingwood lit up his home ground en route to another pulsating win at Chester-le-Street.
When it rains, it certainly seems to pour in the North East and when the elements arrived on 15 June 2007, few were surprised that no play was possible whatsoever on the first day.
Whereas a 15,000 sell-out crowd were left disappointed, the West Indies probably welcomed it. 2-0 down in a four-match series with nothing to play for, the prospect of facing a well-drilled bowling unit in hugely favourable conditions was not too appealing.
The weather finally held up the following day and after a 2pm start, the very first delivery from Ryan Sidebottom saw off visiting skipper Daren Ganga, caught by Alistair Cook at short leg. The crowd, relieved to finally see some cricket, roared with delight.
Chris Gayle tried to smash himself back into form but once he fell two followed, including another for Steve Harmison at Chester-le-Street. Many feared a procession would follow and as with previous years in the North East, England would cruise to victory at a canter.
Step forward Shivnarine Chanderpaul, one of West Indies’ greatest servants in the Test arena, to deliver a fine innings.
He initially had help from Dwayne Bravo to see out Day Two yet once the all-rounder departed on 44, losing patience and dragging Matthew Hoggard onto the stumps, the lower order provided some form of support as the left-hander reached his century – in the meantime, Sidebottom reached his five-wicket haul.
A final wicket partnership of 58 with Corey Collymore hauled the Windies up to 287 and from a position of strength, England almost gifted the initiative away.
Andrew Strauss’ 77 was a platform but the late wickets of nightwatchman Hoggard and then talisman Kevin Pietersen left things finely poised.
The key wicket was Collingwood but the Durham man responded to losing Strauss early, teaming up with wicketkeeper Matt Prior for a 204-run partnership while registering his fifth Test match century. A testing day’s batting had turned into a Sunday afternoon walk in the park.
Collingwood was cleaned up by Collymore but some entertaining hitting from Sidebottom got England up to exactly 400 with four sessions remaining and plenty of time to force victory.
Ganga’s decision to come in at three, inspired by his first innings golden duck, made very little difference. Devon Smith’s third-ball duck meant he effectively came in as an opener and he lasted 11 balls before nicking Hoggard behind.
The captain’s inability to stick around at the top was clearly affecting those beneath and at 38/3, Chanderpaul was sent to the rescue once more.
Gayle’s insistence on treating it as a one-day series warm up brought runs but they needed to bide time in order to save the game, and Chanderpaul showed his gritty resilience once again.
It lasted a while with Bravo but an all-too familiar collapse around their main man – 6/88 in the afternoon session, to be precise – left England with a measly target of 110.
Chanderpaul ended the match with 206 runs in the bank – was it any wonder he decided to make Durham his temporary home on the county scene?
England suffered a few hiccups as home boy Collingwood ended 5* and the national side, while making it 3-0 in the series, made it three from three at Chester-le-Street.
Excitement is building ahead of the Second Investec Test match against Sri Lanka on 27-31 May and tickets are still available via the club website here, or by calling the Box Office on 0844 499 4466. There is very limited availablity for Saturday 28 May so act quickly to avoid disappointment!