The Hindu : Windies loses humdinger despite Sarwan's heroics

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 02, 2003

Sport

Sport - World Cup

Windies loses humdinger despite Sarwan's heroics

By G. Viswanath

Cape Town March 1. Heroics of different arts of the game and involving two players surfaced at Newlands on Friday night. The West Indies' young and upcoming star, Ramnaresh Sarwan rushed from the surgeon's table with a couple of stitches on his scalp and swung his bat freely to give the West Indies a flicker of hope in a cliff hanger finish in the crucial Group B match of the ICC World Cup.

But, ultimately it was the aggression of Chaminda Vaas who dealt the knock out blows and vanquished the West Indies which was striving desperately to stay in the competition.

Friday's defeat has left the West Indies close to elimination, an unpleasant event its staunch and faithful followers have to live with. The Sri Lankans were naturally happy collecting four more points and taking their tally to 16, a figure South Africa and Kenya, too, are looking forward to and hope of making the second stage.

The Caribbeans are not a big force any more. They are struggling and do not have the wherewithal to steamroll opposition. Their batting revolves entirely on the individual brilliance and dynamism of Brian Lara.

Under the lights, Lara looked a shadow of himself. He was delightful against the likes of Shaun Pollock and Makhaya Ntini on the opening day of the competition.

But on Friday, the relentless Vaas outfoxed him. Lara seemed tentative, but was determined to fight it out. First, right arm medium pacer, Pulasti Gunaratne kept him on tight leash and did not concede a run to the master left-hander.

Lara's presence was necessitated because Wavell Hinds played an atrocious shot. Hinds' dismissal put his team under needless pressure and even a champion batsman like Lara did not find his feet moving.

He scampered for a single of the 18th ball he faced and saved his wicket at the bowler's end. Lara might have been relieved that he got off the mark, but Vaas came up with a gem and the left-hander walked the moment he nicked the left arm seamer to wicketkeeper Kumara Sangakkara who also made a significant contribution with the bat after the dismissal of Jayasuriya.

The West Indies bowlers came to their own in daylight. Mervyn Dillon hit the deck and bothered the Sri Lankans. Vasbert Drakes rose to the occasion as a third seamer. The slow bowlers for once clicked, and kept the Sri Lankan score well under 250.

Vaas in great form

The Pakistan and England batsmen did not find the lights at Newlands and Kingsmead sufficiently bright. But Hooper did not gripe. Vaas took full advantage of the stiff breeze blowing across Newlands. He's the bowler in form and worked up a good rhythm straightaway. His first six overs cost him nothing and he had Hinds and Lara in his bag.

Jayasuriya had two match winning bowlers and a few of above average quality, but he marshalled his limited resources and extracted maximum results.

Jayasuriya cut down his flamboyance and dug himself in to keep the West Indies fast bowlers at bay. Without his resolve, the Sri Lanka's innings would have come apart.

The Sri Lankans undertook a task and executed it remarkably well, more so in the second session. The third wicket pair of Gayle, who struck a few explosive shots on the off side, and Sarwan managed to build a partnership. The second bowling change turned out to be devastating as the West Indies lost two batsmen in quick succession; Sarwan took a nasty blow on the side of his head off Dilhara Fernando's first ball and skipper Carl Hooper perished of the second ball, shuffling across to be ruled plumb in front by umpire Dave Orchard.

The South African team as a `third party' in the match was glued to television watching the proceedings at Newlands and prayed for a Sri Lankan win, but even as Chanderpaul and Drakes were battling it out in the middle, the news came from the hospital that Sarwan was on his way to the ground and would resume batting.

The equation looked good as long as the West Indies had plenty of balls left, but once it became 95 off 95, the Sri Lankans did not lose control. Chanderpaul holed out to long on and the West Indies' hopes sank, but only to be lifted by Sarwan's mighty blows struck straight down the ground off de Silva.

It became an extraordinary match because of Sarwan's heroics in the ends. The crowd applauded his return to the scene of action and a couple of Sri Lankans patted him on his back. Once he marked his block, he moved into the fourth gear straight away.

Marvan Atapattu and substitute Jehan Mubarak put down a couple of catches, but the 1996 champion staged the victory march. Even the 19,000-odd South Africans celebrated the Sri Lankan triumph with warm hugs and waving Sri Lankan flags.

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