22 yards of deathbed.
The pitch is a minefield. The ball is moving. The ball is bouncing. There is a swing. There is speed.
This is West Indies. This is the den of fast bowlers.
The pace arsenal of Collins, Taylor, Bravo, and Collymore is breathing fire.
The openers survive only 23 balls. The team is two wickets down. The score reads 3 for 2.
And he walks to the crease.
He is straightway in the firing line.
A short ball shoots off the surface. He tries to fend it and fortunately for him the ball lands just short of the leg slip.
Another full delivery misses the outside edge of his bat by a centimeter.
A little later, the ball finds the edge but doesn’t carry to the slip fielder.
Another bouncer hurries on him. The ball kisses his bat and balloons in the air. The gully fielder jumps and gets a fingertip to it. But only a fingertip and nothing more.
Phew! He gets worked out ruthlessly. He gets grinded, beaten and bruised. They tempt him, they torment him, they test him.
But he refuses to give in. Wickets fall from the other end. No one except him is able to stand on this wicket. Everyone around him falls. Except him.
He withstands the storm. He overcomes the turmoil. He digs deep and waits for the opponents to commit the error. He plays the dirty way. The hard way. He ducks, leaves, defends and continues to do it again and again.
He waits and continues to wait. Eventually, his patience pays off.
He gets a full delivery and he drives it handsomely for a four with a straight drive. His first boundary. Off the 43rd ball he faces.
Then he gets a lifeless short delivery. He rocks back and hammers it with an authoritative pull.
There is no grace. There is no glamour. This is infact, the hard, the ugly way. But it works.
The runs come. Slowly. But importantly they come.
He works hard for them. He waits and waits for eternity. He shows immense grit to stand on that wicket. He reflects unparallel mental strength to overcome the conditions. He showcases impeccable patience to outshine the rigorous bowling.
Finally, after holding the fort for a whopping 340 minutes and after surviving 215 balls, he edges a fine delivery by Collymore and Ramdin collects it behind the stumps.
But by this time he has done the job for his team. Arriving at 2 down for 3 runs, on a minefield and no support from the other end, he takes the team close to 200.
A total that allows his team to eventually win the match by 49 runs and the series as well.
At Sabina Park, Jamaica in 2006, he not only scores81 runs but also shows the world the value of having a strong foundation, a never-die attitude, and a steel-like determination.
A masterclass of 81 runs! An underrated gem in Tests!