Windies 'A' ride on Ganga's hundred

BY SA'ADI Thawfeeq

WEST INDIES 'A' rode on skipper Daren Ganga's 15th first-class hundred to finish the opening day of the third and final unofficial cricket test in a strong position at 277 for wickets against Sri Lanka 'A' at the Saravanamuttu Stadium yesterday.

With the three-match series level at one-all and everything to play for in this match, West Indies 'A' were given a foot hold in the match by Ganga who batted bravely fighting diarrhoea to steer his team from a shaky 61-2 to one of respectability by the end of the day.

The West Indies Test opener whose chequered Test career has seen him fail to win a permanent place in the senior side since making his debut seven years ago, was in his element as he played a workmanlike innings of 109 in 231 minutes, hitting nine fours and a six.

With his new deputy Marlon Samuels who succeeded Narasingh Deonarine to the post after the changes the team underwent recently, Ganga added 114 runs for the third wicket.

The two most experienced batters in a depleted West Indies 'A' side held the innings together and took full advantage of a good batting pitch to keep the Sri Lankan 'A' bowlers at bay for 129 minutes after they had lost two early wickets.

Just as when it looked as if the pair would take West Indies 'A' to tea batting throughout the afternoon session, Samuels was rather unnecessarily run out for 34.

Playing a ball from Tillakaratne Dilshan around the corner, Samuels set off for a single. But non-striker Ganga seeing the fielder recover quickly refused the run.

Samuel failed to make the crease on time to beat Russel Arnold's throw to wicket-keeper Prasanna Jayawardene and thus ended a tidy partnership.

Ganga unperturbed by the loss brought up his 15th first-class hundred before the tea break in 196 minutes and 168 balls and at 81 passed 6000 runs in first-class cricket.

But when another promising partnership between Ganga and David Bernard looked like developing, the West Indies 'A' captain had a momentary lapse of concentration and was out to Maharoof edging a catch to Daniel at slip.

Bernard joined by Darren Sammy added a further 43 runs for the fifth wicket before Sri Lanka were able to breakthrough again. Left-arm spinner Sajeewa Weerakoon, the destroyer of the West Indies batting at Colts picked up his first wicket after toiling for 25 overs when he caught and bowled Sammy for 24.

But Bernard joined by Richard Kelly held out till the close to be unbeaten on 41 and 13 respectively. Bernard had a reprieve at nine when Weerakoon failed to hold onto a return catch.

Sri Lanka 'A' made a surprise decision by inserting their opponents to bat first after winning the toss. The decision was further compounded when they were able to capture only two West Indies wickets in the morning session for 92 runs.

The wickets they were successful with were that of newcomers Lendl Simmons, a nephew of former West Indies cricketer Phil Simmons and Tishan Maraj.

Maraj top edged a pull off Nuwan Zoysa and was caught by Jayawardene who ran from his position behind the wicket to almost square leg to complete the catch. Maraj made five out of an opening partneship of 25.

Simmons who came into the side because regular opener Sewnarine Chattergoon was late in arriving in Colombo from Canada where he was playing cricket, hit an impressive 38 runs in 93 minutes before playing an over ambitious stroke to be caught at deep point by Farveez Maharoof to give Dilhara Lokuhettige his first wicket at this level of competition. At 61-2 it looked as if Arnold's decision to insert West Indies 'A' in first was paying off.

But Ganga who made 99 in the first 'test' at Dambulla and Samuels took control to frustrate the home side. Both batsmen gave half chances before lunch.

Suraj Mohamed failed to hold onto a hard hit return catch from Ganga when the batsman was on 30 and in the last over before lunch Samuels (5) edged a delivery from Mohamed which Arnold failed to get a hand to at slip.

Ganga brought up his half-century in style with a six to long on off Mohamed. It took him 95 minutes and 80 balls and also comprised eight fours. He showed good technique not taking any undue risks but playing every ball on its merit.

WEST  INDIES 'A' 1ST INNINGS 

L.M.P. Simmons c Maharoof b Lokuhettige		38
T.  Maraj c Jayawardene b Zoysa 			05  
D.  Ganga c Daniel b Maharoof  			109
M.N. Samuels run out 				34  
D.E.  Bernard not out 				41  
D.J.G. Sammy c and b Weerakoon  			24  
R. Kelly not out  					13  
EXTRAS (lb-7, nb-6) 				13  
TOTAL  (5 wkts at close, 98 overs, 363 mins) 	277   

Fall of wickets: 1-25, 2-61, 3-175, 4-212, 5-255.   

To bat: D. Mohammed, D.M. Washington, K.K. Peters, N.O'B.  Miller.  

Bowling: 
Zoysa13-4-28-1, Maharoof 16-3-53-1(6nb) Lokuhettige 8-0-32-1, 
Weerakoon 27-6-52-1, Mohamed 19-3-72-0, Dilshan 15-4-33-0.  

SRI LANKA 'A': 
D.A. Gunawardene, G.I. Daniel, S. Kalavitigoda, T.M. Dilshan, 
R.P.  Arnold, H.A.P.W. Jayawardene, M.F. Maharoof, 
D.N.T. Zoysa, M.M.S. Mohamed, S.  Weerakoon, 
D.D. Lokuhettige.