Mahela’s marvels prove a point

Excellent team work made it possible:

Elmo Rodrigopulle from the West Indies

When Mahela Jayawardena and his team flew into Guyana, he said that his team have it in them to register their first Test win on Caribbean soil.

And it did not take long for him to prove that point. In the only practice game, the batsmen and bowlers quickly got into their act and when Test time came along they were fine tuned to deliver.

Firstly the batsmen, Malinda Warnapura, Michael Vandort, Jayawardena himself and Thilan Samaraweera go into the runs. Of the bowlers left arm spinner Rangana Herath played himself into the Test side with a six wicket haul.

Then when Test match day came along, Jayawardena called correctly and that set the tone for the Lankan batsmen to make merry and for the bowlers to have the Windies batsmen always on the ropes, before finally knocking them out.

It was Sri Lanka’s massive 476 for 9 declared, that took the fight out of the Windies and made them capitulate.

On a wicket where stroke making was a hard grind, Warnapura and Vandort played correctly, pushing it around and waiting for the loose balls to execute. Their brilliant stand of 130 for the first wicket was the platform for Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardena, Tillekeratne Dilshan, Prasanna Jayawardena and Chaminda Vaas to build on and put the game away from their opponents.

Warnapura’s and Jayawardena’s centuries were gems made on a difficult wicket. Warnapura and Vandort seem to be a opening bats with understanding. One hopes that they will be persisted with.

Warnapura who made a ton and a half ton in the practice game, carried this form into the Test. He is a fine square of the wicket player and has the strokes for big scores.

Vandort’s half century also came at the right time. Jayawardena in making his 22nd Test hundred, showed and guided his batsmen as a captain should do and on this difficult wicket, used all his experience to accumulate the runs.

What was encouraging in the Lankan innings was that partnerships were built that took them to that huge score.

Then when it came to bowling - Vaas, Thusara, Muralitharan and Rangana Herath although he went wicketless, were always working on the weaknesses of the Windies batsmen, probing and luring them to their demise.

Any form of cricket must be played on a wicket that allows a contest between bat and ball.

This wicket was a sad indictment on the game. This wicket was made to probably blunt the vicious and biting spin of Muttiah Muralitharan. But apparently what happened was that in making a wicket to deprive Muralitharan, it also did not allow their natural strokeplayers to have a go and it would not be wrong to say that the Windies dug their own grave.

In addition the Windies batsmen seemed to feetless wonders.

They did not seem to believe in footwork where batting was concerned. They just stood on the crease and wanted to deliver, which is the wrong attitude in the aspect of batting. Only deposed captain Ronnie Sarwan seemed to have the right attitude in batting.

Also it was a negative attitude to see regular opener and skipper Christopher Gayle adopting a defeatist attitude by chickening out and refusing to open in the second innings, fearing that Vaas who has made Gayle his bunny would knocked him over for a zero in the second innings too.

The Lankans promise that there would be no letting up in the Second Test in Trinidad. Providence Stadium, Guyana, Friday