Fab Froome’s a trial blazer
REPORTS STUART LAW has warned that his West Indies side are out to spoil Jimmy Anderson’s Lord’s party and prove their Headingley victory was no flash in the pan.
The Test series is tied at 1-1 going into the decider starting tomorrow. To add spice to the summer finale, England’s leading wicket-taker stands just three short of becoming only the third seamer in history to reach 500 Test wickets.
But West Indies coach Law said his players had gained confidence from proving their critics wrong and could now pull off an unexpected series win “A lot of people have not given us the credit. To bowl England out for 258 on the first day was a tremendous effort – but now we’ve shown what we can do, it is up to us to maintain that level,” said Law.
“I’ve seen these guys at close quarters and I know there is immense confidence there. But there was a couple that doubted their ability to cope at this level. Well I hope those doubts are now well and truly put to bed and they can start flourishing.”
Few gave them much chance of knocking off the 322 set by England captain Joe Root as a fourth-innings target at Headingley.
But Law revealed a conversation with centurion Shai Hope on the final morning demonstrated there was belief in certain sections of a young West Indies side.
“I was sitting down next to him in the dressing room before the last day and said, ‘Look, the plan is we’ll bat to tea, see where we are and if we’ve got wickets we’ll work out if we’re going to have a go or not,’” said Law.
“He looked at me and I said, ‘What’s wrong with that?’ He looked at me again, shook his head and shrugged his shoulders – and I said ‘OK, what’s your plan?’ He said, ‘We’re going to win.’
Hope became the first man to score centuries in both innings of a first-class match at Headingley and Law said he is now targeting getting his name on the Lord’s honours board.
“He’s a of talent guy and with a lot Headingley CHRIS FROOME snapped up a second stage win in the Vuelta a Espana yesterday.
The Briton was hot favourite for yesterday’s time trial through La Rioja and duly swept his opponents aside in imperious fashion.
Froome, below, roared home 29 seconds ahead of Dutchman Wilco Kelderman and gained nearly a minute on closest overall challenger Vincenzo Nibali.
Froome almost doubled his overall lead, with five stages remaining, to 1min 58secs on the Italian.
Froome said: “I’m super happy to be in this position. It’s an amazing feeling to extend my lead.
“I have a good time buffer but the race isn’t over yet, I’ll have to keep fighting all the way to Madrid.” Froome said he was worried in the first half of the flat time trial “because I wasn’t getting many time checks from the car”. He added: “But coming into the last six or seven kilometres I found out I was on track to fight for the stage. It was a relief.”
Today’s summit finish at Los Machucos is a narrow former cattle track four miles long. “It’s going to be brutal,” said Froome. “From what I’ve seen, riding up Los Machucos will be like riding up a wall.”
Australia’s Caleb Ewan, meanwhile, reclaimed the overall lead of the Tour of Britain with his second stage victory.