|
Sarwan,
Chanderpaul help Windies to square the Test
Series |
Link to
Scorecard
Test
Cricket was at its best at the Queen's Park Oval
in Port of Spain. On a pitch that had good bit
of life for the bowlers, West Indies' bowling
came good and when it mattered, the batsmen
delivered to chase a competitive target of 253
to draw the 2-Test Series 1-1. Ramnaresh Sarwan
was the architect of the win with a half century
in the first innings and a brilliant hundred in
the chase.
The West Indian bowlers started off poorly in
the first hour of the Test Match after Gayle had
asked SL to bat first. The Sri Lankan openers
put on a fifty stand but the bowling came good
for the home side. Sri Lanka were put into
trouble losing four wickets quickly to find
themselves at 117 for 5. A resurrection act from
Dilshan (62 from 60) and Chamara Silva (76 from
108) rescued them to post a first innings total
of 278. Fidel Edwards, who missed the first test
fired on cylinders with 4 for 84. Powell and
Taylor picked up a couple of wickets each.
West Indies in their first innings were also
off to a good start but like their opposition
lost their way. By the end of the second day,
Sri Lanka were back in the game strongly as they
had West Indies at 268 for 7. West Indies could
manage a slender lead of 16 as they got folded
quickly on the third day. The top scorer for
them was Sarwan with 57. Openers Gayle and
Chattergoon struck forties while demoted to the
middle order, Devon Smith came up with a
precious 47. Muralitharan did the most damage
for the Lankans with 5 for 79 in nearly 30 overs.
The morning session of the third day's play
was mind blowing with as many as eight wickets
going down! Sri Lanka looked to be out of the
contest at 78 for 5! The entire top order failed
under testing conditions. The West Indian
bowlers couldn't wrap up things though as the
pair of Thilan Samaraweera and Chaminda Vaas
applied themselves to repair the Lankan innings.
As time went by, it was looking very difficult
to dislodge the pair and the lead for the
visitors grew nicely. Chris Gayle came to the
rescue by getting the wicket of Vaas, who had
made 45 in a 7th wicket stand of 138.
Samaraweera went onto make a superb 125 (from
199 balls with 18 fours) before being run out.
The Sri Lankans got bowled out for 268 with
Jerome Taylor taking 4 for 52 and the rest of
the bowlers chipping in as well.
The fourth day's play started to favour Sri
Lanka with the openers including Chris Gayle
falling cheaply. West Indies were in trouble at
24 for 2 chasing 253. The repair work was then
carried on by Sarwan who got a bit of support
from Samuels but the latter didn't last long. At
73 for 3, everything depended on the two
Guyanese batsmen in Sarwan and Chanderpaul. And
both batsmen kept their cool and saw off any
danger from the Sri Lankan bowling. Once a
batsman got settled on this wicket then it was
not that easy to get him out. That is what had
happened to Sarwan and Chanderpaul and their
team as a result were well on course of a win.
Muralitharan finally came with the breakthrough
with the wicket of Sarwan. But by then Sarwan
had made 102 (from 172 balls with 15 fours) to
take Windies just 23 runs short of victory.
Chanderpaul with an unbeaten 86 (from 146 balls
with 7 fours) ensured that there was no drama
unfolding and the West Indies wrapped up the
match with the loss of just 4 wickets. Ronnie
Sarwan was adjudged as both the Man of the Match
and also the Player of the Series.
Top of the Page |