Gayle praises Sarwan and Chanderpaul

Elmo Rodrigopulle from West Indies

Had the Lankan early batsmen applied themselves better, in the second innings, the game could have taken a different turn and the Lankans would have been more competitive and not lost the second Digicel Test the way they did by six wickets to the West Indies on Sunday with more than a day to spare.

Once the reliables, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardena went cheaply the foundation was shaky and all credit to Thilan Samaraweera and Chaminda Vaas for their wonderful rearguard action and a century from Samaraweera and a gutty 45 from Vaas that helped the Lankans to take the Test to the fourth day.

Skipper Jayawardena expressed disappointment not getting the series win, but was pleased with his team's effort.

'Going into this game it was a great opportunity to beat them in a Test series. We had to get wickets to win, so we had to take chances and they capitalised on that. We should not take anything away from the West Indies, they batted really well.

"Sarwan and Chanderpaul we knew were the dangerous men, and they batted really, really well. We gave ourselves a good chance to win it, but the West Indies came very strong on the fourth day," said the Lankan skipper, who would have liked to have been the first captain to make a clean sweep in the Caribbean. However he can find consolation in the fact that he was the first captain to win a Test match here in Calypso land.

Sarvan, the Windies vice captain who had the misfortune to lose his captaincy to Chrys Gayle, and who made victory possible for his team with his excellent batting revealed that the individual performance paled into comparison to a series-levelling victory for his team. "All I wanted to do is to try and take the team to victory," said the Guyanese batsman at a postmatch press conference at the Oval.

"The coach (John Dyson) and captain (Chriys Gayle) were saying the most important thing is to form partnerships and if we formed two big partnerships we'd win the game. "I was a bit concerned about Muralitheran, because he was getting the ball to bounce and turn. Vaas and the rest of the bowlers were very patient and I decided I'd try and be patient too. I was not sure where the ball was going," said Sarwan.

Sarwan was given good support by another former Windies captain, Shivnarine Chanderpaul who made an unbeaten 86 and formed a partnership of 157 for the fourth wicket.

Chanderpaul has a funny stance. He stands facing midwicket when the bowler begins his run up and is in line to face. His stance makes him a candidate for an lbw decision. He probably has forgotten that cricket is a side on game. Windies captain Chrys Henry Gayle was a happy man because the West Indies had an unenviable streak of seven successive Test series losses, and this win ended that. Gayle told the media: "I am very relieved, because you guys won't give me pressure no more," he told the media with a wide grin on his face.

"It's just the start, just my first outing at home as captain. Once I get the support off the field as captain, things will get better," he said.

He was profuse in his praise for Sarwan and Chanderpaul and also paid tribute to the fans at the Oval and hoped that improved performances would bring a bigger turn out in the future. Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, Monday