With the capacity down to 61,000 while rebuilding proceeds, the finalists will receive 4,500 fewer than last year and 9,000 fewer than 1992, when Twickenham held only 60,500 but had far fewer debenture-holders.After they have catered for their members, players, committee and others, Bath will have precisely 100 tickets left for sale to the public. The public in the West Indies holds its cricket dear, and it can be wickedly unforgiving if those who represent it on the field fall short of their expectations.FIRST TEST (Bridgetown, Barbados): West Indies 195 (B C Lara 65, C L Hooper 60; B P Julian 4-36) and 189 (G D McGrath 5-68); Australia 346 (I A Healy 74no, S R Waugh 65, M A Taylor 55) and 39 for 0 Australia win by 10 wickets.. The America's Cup was put back where it belongs, on the water, as all the protests by the three defence syndicates against each other were either dismissed or withdrawn yesterday. The showdown between Dennis Conner and Bill Koch's mainly women-crewed America3 today will decide the second finalist in the Citizen Cup. While the two America's Cup challenger finalists in the Louis Vuitton Cup are pouring energy and money into preparing their yachts, the defender candidates are at each other's throats more off the water than on. Team New Zealand's moans that oneAustralia is practically building a new hull on to the old deck have been as nothing compared with the determination of Conner to nail the finalist already decided, Kevin Mahaney's Pact '95, and Koch to erase Conner.That was especially so after Conner drew level again at 3-3 by beating Cubed in the resail of the race he first won on the water but then was taken away from him by the jury on the technicality that his replacement keel was just over a quarter of an inch too shallow.Just to keep everyone guessing a little longer, and reduce further the time available to either Koch or Conner to make changes ahead of revealing their finals format next Monday, the decider could not be sailed yesterday because the coastguard, on behalf of the US Navy, said they wanted to play instead.TNZ's Alan Sefton said the Aussies were taking advantage of a ruling allowing wholesale changes to a yacht, even though an overall rule says each syndicate can build only two new hulls.

Yet there was also concern over the bowling, and the selectors should be considering the introduction of some variety in their pace-based attack - such as the overdue inclusion of the leg-spinner, Rajindra Dhanraj.There has been, inevitably, a big outcry over what was the first defeat for the West Indies within three days in 30 years. To have him left high and dry unbeaten on 39, as he was on Sunday, was a waste.The primary cause of the West Indies' defeat, alongside an overall attitude of complacency that pervaded every aspect of their game, was the collapse of the batting for under 200 in both innings on a good pitch. The selectors clearly gambled and lost with their decision to give the man's job of opening the innings to two boys, Stuart Williams and Sherwin Campbell, a total of eight Tests between them, promising as they are. In the absence of Desmond Haynes, someone of experience - Richardson himself or Phil Simmons, regardless of his unflattering Test record - is probably required to give more reassurance at the top of the order.In the middle, the demotion of Jimmy Adams to No 6 from No 4, where he had made three centuries in his previous four Tests, removed the stability the stroke-playing middle order clearly needed.

This is Richardson's first Test match since acute fatigue prompted doctors to order him to take a six-month break from the game in the middle of last year and he has been blamed, as much as anyone, for the unusual demise of the team.There are worrying signs that the West Indies' invincibility is now under serious threat. Their triumph was achieved after a potentially unsettling start to the tour, in which they lost their main strike bowler, Craig McDermott - whose tour was ended by an accident in which he tore ligaments in his left ankle - and the one-day series 4-1.It was adversity that, according to Taylor, prompted his team to lift their game. Conversely, the West Indies still seemed to be in a one-day frame of mind throughout the Test match.Their captain Richie Richardson promised after the match: "We are going to bounce back. We are going to be bubbling and things are going to be different." Judging by the coverage in yesterday's West Indian press and the irate calls on radio phone-in programmes, West Indians still have to be convinced. The most recent instance was in India late last year when, under Courtney Walsh, victory in the final Test in Chandigarh cancelled out defeat in the first in Bombay.The evidence in the defeat at Kensington Oval over the weekend suggests that their determination and spirit have never been more seriously tested than they will be over the next four weeks, and even the most ardent West Indian supporter's confidence was shattered by their unusually inept performance.Taylor's Australians have become fiercely committed to the cause of regaining the Frank Worrell Trophy, which has been in West Indian hands since 1978.

"They have come back before so we've got to make sure we play as well if not better than we did in this game," he added. "They can come out and get beaten by 10 wickets here and they can bounce back very tough in Antigua [the venue for the second Test starting on Saturday] I know the West Indies. He was vice-captain in the previous series between the teams in Australia two years ago, when the West Indies were beaten in the second Test in Melbourne yet recovered to win the fourth in Adelaide by a single run and the fifth and final in Perth by an innings.In maintaining the unmatched record of 28 successive series without losing one, the West Indies have been behind eight times. "These blokes have been 1-0 down before so they know what it's like," Taylor said after his team's stunning victory by 10 wickets. For Whitehead, and many like him, it cannot happen soon enough.. Based on their remarkable record of resilience, if not on the realities of their three-day defeat in the first Test on Sunday, Mark Taylor, the Australian captain, has warned of a West Indies' fightback in the remainder of the series. This sum may be matched by the future sponsors of the London Marathon. But this has been dissipated in the regions, and no one seems to know quite what has happened to it."Over the weekend, 14 former British medallists in the marathon signed a letter deploring the lack of support currently offered to British long- distance runners.What may help is the ongoing negotiation between the London Marathon organisers and the British Athletic Federation, which has agreed in principle to put up a sum of around £30,000 towards a national training squad.

"The distance- running scene in Britain at the moment is pretty pathetic," he said. "It would be nice if there could be a group which would train abroad," said Paul Evans, Britain's leading finisher on Sunday in fifth place. "I am sure it would improve the general standard."Steve Moneghetti, the Australian Commonwealth champion who finished just three seconds behind the winner, Dionicio Ceron, expressed a similar opinion, saying that training camps at altitude could have a beneficial effect.Chris Brasher, chairman of the London Marathon, has been critical of the support given to British long-distance runners for many years. If there was a better system over here, it would help athletes like me to make the decision to go full-time You have got to have money to train You can't do it without money. It's as simple as that."I have been able to do it only because my wife and my mother have been able to help me.