Share Test series with Sri Lanka one-all:

Sarwan, Chanderpaul steer Windies to victory

Elmo RODRIGOPULLE from the West Indies

A superbly carved out century (102) from Ramnaresh Sarwan and a steady unbeaten 86 from Shivranine Chanderapaul who were involved in a match winning 157 for the 4th wicket steered the West Indies to an easy six wicket win against Sri Lanka in the final Digicel Test match here, today.

With this win the Windies share the series with Sri Lanka one-all.

Sarwan who was unfortunate to be stripped of the captaincy, hit it hard into the selectors by making his century after nearly two years which laid the foundation for this victory.

The Windies who needed 253 for victory with two day’s play left strolled to the tape making 254 for 4 to canter home by six wickets.

When the game began, the buzz around the ground was that if the home team were to win this one, then the two Guyanese Sarwan and Chanderpaul had to strike it rich.

And this they did unperturbed and untroubled as they faced the two Lankan bowlers who could have sliced through the batting, Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitheran, with ease.

The Windies were somewhat nervy when they lost skipper Gayle, Chattergoon and Samuels with the score crawling to 73. But Sarwan and Chanderpaul rode through the early anxiety, to settle down and play correct cricket and let their teammates and the spectators who had gathered in their numbers to sing Calypsos. Reggae and Soca and do the jig of joy round the Oval.

This victory came two years after their success against South Africa in South Africa and this triumph has been achieved at the Oval after 10 years.

Sarwan was named Man-of-the-Match and the series after his amazing display where he went over 50 on three occasions and finally a three figure score. His ton came in 150 balls with 15 fours in 220 minutes.

Chanderpaul whose form was not what it should have been finally struck gold when it mattered and his 86 had 7 fours.

If the Lankans were to emerge victorious, it was paramount that Vaas get the early wickets and open the gates for Muralitheran to crash through. But that did not materialise.

Vaas obliged with two wickets after left-armer Thilana Thusara had the prized wicket of skipper Chrys Gayle. Vaas had Chattergoon LBW for 11 and got rid of Marlon Samuels, caught at extra cover by Warnapura for 11.

Gayle played an irresponsible shot and let his team sink or swim. Dilshan running back from point took a splendid catch. Had Dilshan hit the wicket with Sarwan well out of his ground with the score on 40 and his own score 14, who knows what might have been. But then that is how the game goes.

He took it from there and with Chanderpaul blunted the Lankan attack of pace and spin to bring their side a victory that enabled them to draw the series. At one time it looked as though the Lankans would be the first team to clean sweep the Windies in the Caribbean.

With the wicket not helping Muralitheran he could not put his usual magic on display and with him going for 93 runs for just one wicket the game was good as over for the Lankans.

Sarwan excelled in the drives on either side of the wicket and also cut for boundaries with rare timing. Chanderpaul on the other had pushed for his runs and waited for the loose ball to take it to the boundary.

Queen’s Park Oval, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, Sunday

SRI LANKA - 1ST INNINGS
278 (C. Silva 76; F. Edwards 4-84)
WEST INDIES - 1ST INNINGS
294 (R. Sarwan 57; M. Muralitharan 5-79)
SRI LANKA - 2ND INNINGS
268 (T. Samaraweera 125; J. Taylor 4-52)
WEST INDIES - 2ND INNINGS

C. Gayle c Dilshan b Thushara		10
S. Chattergoon lbw b Vaas		11
R. Sarwan c Dilshan b Muralitharan	102
M. Samuels c Warnapura b Vaas		11
S. Chanderpaul not out			86
D. Smith not out			14
EXTRAS (B-11, LB-2, W-2, NB-5)		20
TOTAL (4 wkts; 68.3 overs)		254
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-23 (Gayle), 2-24 (Chattergoon), 3-73 (Samuels), 
4-230 (Sarwan).
BOWLING: Vaas 17-2-52-2; Thushara 12-3-49-1 (nb1, w2); 
Amerasinghe 13-0-43-0 Muralitharan 24.3-4-92-1 (nb4) Silva 2-0-5-0.
Man-of-the-Match: Ramnaresh Sarwan (WIS)
Man-of-the-Series: Ramnaresh Sarwan (WIS)