India skittled out for 102 at Barbados On the first day of third Test at the Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, the Indian innings was merely a funereal procession of batsmen to and from the wicket. Right from the first ball, when Mervyn Dillon castled Shiv Sunder Das, India looked to mire themselves in strife. Sachin Tendulkar made, for the first time, his second consecutive nought in Tests. An unfortunate run-out of Rahul Dravid further catalysed the innings collapse, and only Sourav Ganguly was able to hang around long enough to get the total up into three digits. The Indian skipper hit 48 before falling as the final wicket with the score on 102. The West Indies then proceeded to show that there were no devils in the pitch, reaching 33 for one before play was called off. Rain and wet conditions meant that only 46.1 overs could be bowled on the day, but the weather was not the only reason for gloom for the visiting side.

Dillon delighted with West Indian performance On the morning of the fifth day of the Port of Spain Test, a Trinidad daily quoted Mervyn Dillon as saying that he would not need to bat and that Brian Lara and Carl Hooper would see the West Indies through. As it transpired, Dillon did indeed need to bat, and even that could not help the West Indies to win the Test. The hosts, therefore, must be hoping that his comments after the first day’s play at Bridgetown turn out to be less unfortunate. "The wicket, if you get set, is still a very good batting wicket. I'm sure we'll do well and post a big West Indian total and go on to win the match," said Dillon, who picked four wickets in India’s disastrous first innings. "Coming here one down, it was exactly the start we wanted in the match. Getting India out for a 100-odd was what was needed, and we managed to do that." Dillon only has one five-wicket haul to his name, but he was not too concerned about missing out here. "I'm not too worried about not getting five wickets today. It's always good to get five, hopefully I'll get it once before the series is over - maybe twice," he said. "The main goal for me is to help West Indies win the series." "We were playing four seamers and we always wanted to get a shot at them early," continued Dillon. "Knowing the Barbados wicket, we knew it would help the quicks. There was quite a bit of pace and bounce on it, and I think we bowled quite well."

Sobers in bronze A signal honour was accorded to Sir Garfield Sobers when, on their national day, the government of Barbados decided to have a bronze statue of the all-rounder placed at the entrance to Bridgetown. Despite rain, the people flocked in the thousands to inaugurate the statue of Sir Garry in his follow-through after executing a perfect straight drive. The prime minister said, "He is certainly the most respected person in the history of Barbados." Sobers, naturally, was overwhelmed. "I’m honoured" was what he could say from the podium. 'Cricketer Extraordinaire' ­ a song dedicated to Sobers’ cricketing skills - was played, and documentaries on the great cricketer were shown. On two big screens were shown the highlights of his career – a truly memorable one that set Sobers up as the greatest all-rounder this world has ever seen.

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