"I wish there was DRS. The crowd was baying, everyone was shouting - including the players, not just Viv"
Monday 27 July 2020 18:12, UK
England had come within touching distance of a 2-0 lead on their 1990 tour of the Caribbean – and the fourth Test in Barbados proved to be another agonising case of what might have been.
With Graham Gooch sidelined by a broken hand, Allan Lamb took over the captaincy and hit his second century of the series as the tourists gave West Indies another almighty battle at Kensington Oval.
Fighting to save the match, England took it into the final half-hour before finally succumbing to Curtly Ambrose's career-best 8-45 as the hosts drew level and went on to win the fifth Test as well, taking the series 2-1.
In the third and final episode of Pictures from Paradise, 'So Near…' Charles Colvile takes a look back at the climax to the Test series - and how Sky Sports' exclusive live coverage of it set the template for future England tours.
One of the most memorable and controversial incidents of that Barbados Test revolved around the dismissal of England batsman Rob Bailey, given out caught behind down the leg-side on the fourth evening.
Umpire Lloyd Barker raised his finger following a sustained, vociferous appeal from the West Indies fielders - with some in the English media suggesting he had been pressured into the decision by home captain Viv Richards racing down the pitch towards him from first slip.
"I wish there was DRS," Barker reflected. "The crowd was baying, everyone was shouting - including the players, not just Viv. I was just concentrating on my decision.
"At first I wasn't sure, then I thought 'yes, he's hit it'. I've reviewed it on television a number of times since then and I'm not sure."
Richards had savaged Devon Malcolm as he contributed a blistering 70 to West Indies' first-innings total of 446, while Carlisle Best - a batsman with the curious habit of commentating to himself at the crease - hit his maiden Test hundred.
Lamb and Robin Smith helped England to reply with 358, but West Indies declared 355 ahead and then reduced the tourists to 97-5 before Smith and Jack Russell dug in grimly to take the game into the final session.
However, Ambrose ended Russell's resistance with a shooter and England were eventually beaten by 191 runs before heading to Antigua, exhausted and demoralised, for the final Test that began just two days later.
It was little surprise that West Indies triumphed by an innings and 32 runs to complete a 2-1 series victory - yet England's heroics had set the tone not only for a general improvement in their fortunes, but renewed public interest in their overseas tours.
Current Sky Sports pundit Nasser Hussain, who made his Test debut on that Caribbean tour, recalled: "Suddenly, cricket became not just a summer sport.
"People would come up and ask me 'where are you in the winter, what's the time difference and is that on Sky and what time can we watch it?'"
