SHIVNARINE CHANDERPAUL tumbled into a trap in the first Test but his opponents are conscious that the West Indies’ most determined batsman will feel more in his element at Adelaide Oval.

Chanderpaul has a wonderful Test record but averages below 30 in Australia, where Ricky Ponting’s bowlers gave him a hard time as a quiet captain four years ago. This series, Ben Hilfenhaus found a flaw with a well-directed bouncer in the second innings at the Gabba, where Chanderpaul’s renowned concentration was broken and he paddled a catch to square leg.

”With that front-on stance he has, when you can get the ball bouncing from a decent length is how you’re going to get him out caught behind the wicket,” Ponting said. ”Once he gets in and gets set, he’s noted for going on and batting for long periods of time and making big scores.

”We were lucky up at the Gabba that we got him out in both innings but we know how dangerous he can be. That was one wicket where I thought we could actually exploit the way he plays a little bit. He excels on wickets that don’t bounce much and this [Adelaide] is one of those.

”We have to make sure that we’re spot on with everything we do to him at the start and not let him get off to a bit of a flyer and get too many cheap runs early on, which is what we did really well at the Gabba. By doing that, we created a couple of chances, and it’s important we try and do the same here.”

Captain Chris Gayle has demanded more resilience from the senior batsmen for the second Test. Ramnaresh Sarwan is expected to return to the No.3 spot and Gayle said Travis Dowlin would probably be the unlucky omission despite his 62 first-innings runs in Brisbane.

”He [Sarwan] said he felt a bit stiff but batting was OK,” Gayle said. ”I’m guessing coming back from the injury, automatically these things will happen. Hopefully he’ll be fine. With so many Tests under his belt, having Sarwan around who has been in good form will be a big boost for us.”

The West Indies have done their best to forget the dispiriting first-Test result. ”We’ve tried to put that behind us,” Gayle said. ”We all know where we went wrong. It wasn’t any secret at all to debate. That was the situation, we’re looking forward to tomorrow and hopefully we can get away to a better start.”

Source: SMH