Bdos: Blame the Barmy Army for Windies defeat?

From an afternoon position of 167 for three, the West Indies suffered their customary collapse and were all out for 224 in an environment that ideally suited the visitors.

For one, the pitch, prepared for the first time by Richard Applewhaite, was generous in bounce and in sharp contrast to the graveyard that was served up last year.

It was the type of surface on which Michael Holding and company unsettled Geoffrey Boycott, David Gower and Ian Botham in years gone by. With the four gentlemen watching on from commentary boxes yesterday, the tables were reversed.

Secondly, and even more significantly, Kensington was transformed into Kennington with the vocal presence of thousands of Englishmen.

For reasons that are still beyond the West Indies Cricket Board, the number of visitors in the ground exceeded the 40 per cent ticket allocation for the British market.

On the evidence of the loud roars that reverberated around the Oval when the West Indies lost their first wicket 20 minutes into the match, it was obvious which team commanded the majority support.

The new Grandstand contained mainly visitors and it was from there that the shouts of B-A-R-M-Y A-R-M-Y 20 minutes after tea that seemed to reenergise Michael Vaughan’s men just when the West Indies were mounting a spirited effort by way of fighting half-centuries from Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

No sooner had the chants started to ascend than Sarwan was edging a loose drive to second slip to start the collapse in which the last seven wickets fell for 57 runs.

Fans are there to make noise and support their team. If the Windies's players can't concentrate, then they should get to hell out of cricket.