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Sa'adi Thawfeeq reporting from the Caribbean

JAMAICA, Kingston, Sunday - West Indies put up a better display of batting in the second innings to successfully chase the victory target of 212 and win the second cricket Test by seven wickets here at Sabina Park today.

West Indies skipper BRIAN LARA acknowledges the cheers of the crowd after reaching his half century during his innings of 80 not out to steer West Indies to a seven-wicket win. (AFP )

Dismissed for 191 in their first innings, the West Indies finished the second innings on a high note scoring 212 for three wickets with Ramnaresh Sarwan and Brian Lara sharing a third wicket partnership of 161 off 169 balls to steer them to this series clinching win. The first Test at St. Lucia ended in a draw. Sri Lanka who scored 208 in their first innings were dismissed for 194 in the second. West Indies made 191 in their first innings.

Although the final margin of victory looked a comprehensive one, it does not tell how close and fascinating the contest turned out to be between bat and ball over the three days. The only time the batsmen showed any domination over the bowlers on this sporting pitch was in the final session today.

West Indies who went to tea at 120-2, needing 92 in the final session, raced to their target in no time. They took just 70 balls to knock off the remaining runs with Lara finishing on an unbeaten 80 off 90 balls inclusive of one six and nine fours and Marlon Samuels on nought.

Sarwan was dismissed for a well compiled 82 with the scores level when he attempted to go over cover for the winning hit and gave Jayasuriya a catch off the persevering Vaas.

Lara set the tone for the final session by flicking the first ball after tea from Nissanka for four and in the same over hooked him to fine leg for another boundary. Sarwan followed his captain by sweeping Muralitharan for four to complete his 16th Test fifty in 140 minutes off 80 balls (9 fours) and then hit Nissanka for a hooked six and two fours so that the fast bowler conceded 27 runs in two overs after tea.

Lara went to his 41st Test half-century by straight driving Muralitharan for his fifth four. It took him 105 minutes and came off 70 balls. He was dropped at 61 by Dharmasena at fine leg off Vaas when he went for the hook.

For Sri Lanka to have any chance they had to get Lara's wicket early as they did in the first innings. But the West Indies captain overcame some testing and probing bowling from Muralitharan in the afternoon session to forge a match-winning partnership with Sarwan that ended all hopes Sri Lanka had of pulling off a win in the Caribbean.

Vaas gave them an early breakthrough by trapping Chris Gayle lbw for nought in the third over and Muralitharan bowled Hinds for 29 when he attempted to sweep a ball pitched on off stump. At 50-2 Sri Lanka looked like having an outside chance of victory, but try as they might they couldn't break the third wicket partnership between Sarwan and Lara which grew from strength to strength the longer they stayed at the wicket. Sri Lanka's attempt to set West Indies a target in excess of 250 which on this pitch would have been fairly competitive faded away in the third over of the morning when skipper Hashan Tillakaratne was bowled through the gate by a superb delivery from Corey Collymore.

Collymore went on to claim all five wickets to fall today for career best figures of seven for 57. It was the best bowling performance by a West Indian bowler in a Test match since Courtney Walsh took seven for 37 against New Zealand at Wellington in 1995 and the best by West Indies against Sri Lanka beating Carl Hooper's five for 26 at Arnos Vale in 1997. Collymore's match figures of nine for 85 was also a new bowling record against Sri Lanka. He took the man-of-the-match as well as the man-of-the-series awards, ending the short series with 14 wickets for 160 runs from two Tests.

Tillakaratne's dismissal at seven open the flood gates for West Indies although they were held up temporarily by Dharmasena and Vaas who added 35 useful runs for the seventh wicket to ensure Sri Lanka's overall lead went past the 200-run mark.

Dharmasena's one hour's resistance ended at 20 when he edged a catch to Lara at first slip. Vaas also departed the same way giving Lara his second catch of three he held for the morning. Vaas scored 21 off 15 balls with four fours. Muralitharan was out for six mistiming a big drive to extra cover and Lara held his third catch of the morning at slip when Thuhara guided a rising ball into his hands.

Collymore's morning figures read 8-2-31-5 and he improved on his figures from the St Lucia Test when he took five for 67. Sri Lanka resuming at 129 for 5 added 65 runs for the last five wickets.

The win was West Indies' fifth in succession at Sabina Park since 1999. They have beaten Australia, Zimbabwe, South Africa and India in the previous years.

Sri Lanka 1st innings: 208

West Indies 1st innings: 191

SRI LANKA - 2ND INNINGS 

M. Atapattu c Jacobs b Taylor		28
S. Jayasuriya lbw b Collymore		13
K. Sangakkara c Jacobs b Collymore	12
M. Jayawardene c Jacobs b Edwards	32
R. Kaluwitharana b Taylor		23
H. Tillakaratne b Collymore		 7
K. Dharmasena c Lara b Collymore	20
C. Vaas c Lara b Collymore		21
T. Thushara c Lara b Collymore		13
M. Muralitharan c Sarwan b Collymore	 6
P. Nissanka not out		 	 0
EXTRAS (B-4, LB-6, NB-7, W-2)		19
TOTAL					194
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-25, 2-43, 3-80, 4-118, 5-118, 6-138, 
7-173, 8-176, 9-184.
BOWLING: Edwards 15-2-54-1, Collymore 16-2-57-7, 
Drakes 11-3-29-0, Taylor 10-1-38-2, Banks 2-0-6-0.

WEST INDIES  - 2ND INNINGS
C. Gayle lbw b Vaas		 0
W. Hinds b Muralitharan		29
R. Sarwan c Jayasuriya b Vaas	82
B. Lara not out			80
M. Samuels not out		 0
EXTRAS (B-8, LB-3, NB-6, W-4)	21
TOTAL (for three wickets)	212
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-1, 2-50, 3-211.
BOWLING: Vaas 12-2-54-2, Thushara 5-0-23-0, 
Nissanka 8-1-64-0, Muralitharan 15.4-1-48-1, 
Dharmasena 2-0-12-0.
    

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