ENGLAND FALL TO THE CURSE OF CURTLY

CURTLY Ambrose tore England apart yet again at Trinidad's Queen's Park Oval yesterday in a cricketing Valentine's Day massacre.

Ambrose has always seemed to take a savage, almost sadistic pleasure in tormenting England and the giant pace bowler couldn't resist twisting the knife once more to take 5-25 as Mike Atherton's side subsided for 145.

That gave the West Indies a slender 14-run first innings' lead but then skipper Brian Lara did enough towards the close of the second day of this third Test to suggest he may be ready to push the game beyond England's reach.

When bad light ended play early Lara was unbeaten on 30 as the Windies reached 71-2, 85 runs ahead, and now they will know they have the perfect opportunity to hammer home their advantage.

Lara, though, has Ambrose to thank for handing him an unlikely initiative.

After Angus Fraser and Andy Caddick had bowled out the West Indies for just 159 on day one, England must have fancied their chances of levelling the series at 1-1. But after 15.4 hostile Ambrose overs, that looked a forlorn hope.

Already in this match Ambrose has bettered Malcolm Marshall's record 127-wicket haul against England - not bad for a bloke who was talking about retirement a few weeks ago.

This was the 20th time Ambrose had taken five or more wickets in a Test innings and England won't need reminding about what he did to them here four years ago.

Then Ambrose finished with match figures of 11-84 as England were shot out for a record low 46.

And if Lara had not used Ambrose so sparingly one wonders if England would have made three figures this time.

For some reason Lara rested his on-fire strike bowler for 42 overs in the middle of the innings but even then England managed to hit the self- destruct button as part-time spinners Carl Hooper and Jimmy Adams got rid of Surrey trio Alec Stewart, Graham Thorpe and Mark Butcher.

That left coach David Lloyd moaning: "We contributed to our own downfall. There were just too many soft dismissals and if we are going to have any chance of chasing a fourth innings target then we will have to bat far more consistently.

"We still have a chance to win but first we must come out firing and get amongst the West Indian batsmen early on. Again Andy Caddick looked out of sorts but there's no reason why he can't bounce back. He's done it before and he can do it again."

England must have known it was going to be a tough day once Ambrose flattened the stumps of nightwatchman Dean Headley with only the fourth ball of the day. But worse was to come.

Nasser Hussain was triggered by Guyanese umpire Eddie Nicholls as the West Indies went up for a catch behind by David Williams off Walsh.

TV replays clearly showed plenty of daylight between the ball and Hussain's outside edge. Understandably England's vice captain stared down the wicket in disbelief as Nicholls pointed the way. He was left to trudge off tossing his gloves from hand to hand as he tried to come to terms with the decision.

Nicholls, standing in only his second Test, clearly fell for the oldest trick in the book and with England reeling at 27-4 they tried it on again in Walsh's next over. This time Nicholls was having none of it - but the damage had already been done.

Brave Alec Stewart, felled after being struck in the box by one nasty Kenny Benjamin delivery, sadly went just before lunch for 44 as he nicked Hooper's arm ball to Williams. Stewart didn't wait for the decision. Thorpe and Butcher took the score past 100 but on 32 Thorpe became Hooper's second victim.

The left-hander was beaten by some extra bounce and Williams took a neat catch.

Butcher was starting to settle in his first major innings of the tour but after doing the hard work he pushed a return catch to part- time bowler Jimmy Adams and England were 134-7.

The end wasn't long in coming. Caddick contrived to needlessly run himself out after a mix-up with Jack Russell. Ambrose then steamed in to finish the job as he ripped out Fraser and Phil Tufnell with successive balls.

England needed to respond immediately but Caddick, who had appeared to be back to somewhere near his best form after his five- wicket display in the first innings, lost the plot as West Indies' opener Stuart Williams chimed in to punish a series of wayward deliveries.

That got West Indies away to a flier but a brilliant catch at backward point by Atherton from a savage cut by Williams gave England a break. Caddick, ironically, was the bowler.

Sherwin Campbell has looked to be struggling for top form in the series so far and again he missed out as Fraser trapped him plumb in front for 13 to reduce the West Indies to 66-2.

Now England must find a way past Lara to give themselves any chance of victory. Then, and only then, will they need to combat Ambrose's uncanny pace and skill. So far the signs don't look too good.

SCOREBOARD

QUEEN'S PARK OVAL

Port of Spain

WEST INDIES.- 1st Inns

Campbell c Thorpe b Fraser 28

S Williams c Thorpe b Caddick 24

Lara c Russell b Fraser 42

Hooper c Butcher b Fraser 1

Chanderpaul lbw b Fraser 28

Adams c Atherton b Caddick 11

D Williams b Caddick 0

Ambrose b Caddick 4

Benjamin lbw b Caddick 0

McLean c Headley b Fraser 11

Walsh not out 5

Extras (nb5) 5

Total (all out, 67.4 overs)....159

Fall: 1-36, 2-93, 3-95, 4-100, 5-132, 6-132, 7-140, 8-140, 9-150.

Bowling: Headley 14-0-40-0, Caddick 22-7-67-5, Fraser 20.4-8-40- 5, Tufnell 9-5-11-0, Butcher 2-1-1-0.

ENGLAND.- 1st Inns

(overnight 22 for 2)

Atherton lbw b Ambrose 2

Stewart c D Williams b Hooper 44

Crawley b Ambrose 1

Headley b Ambrose 1

Hussain c D Williams b Walsh 0

Thorpe c D Williams b Hooper 32

Butcher c & b Adams 28

Russell not out 20

Caddick run out 0

Fraser c&b Ambrose 5

Tufnell lbw Ambrose 0

Extras 12

Total ......145

Fall: 1-5, 2-15, 3-22, 4-27, 5-71, 6-101, 7-134, 8-135, 9-145

Bowling: Walsh: 17-4-34-1; Ambrose: 15.4-5-25-5; McLean 9-2-23-0; Benjamin 13-3-34-0; Hooper 15-3-23-2; Adams 2-2-0-1.

WEST INDIES.- 2nd Inns

Campbell lbw Fraser 13

S Williams c Atherton b Caddick 23

Lara not out 30

Benjamin not out 0

Extras 5

Total (for 2) ....71

Fall: 1-27, 2-66.

Bowling: Caddick 9-3-34-1; Fraser 8-2-16-1; Headley 7-2-12-0.

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