From Garth Wattley in Port of
As he stretched out tired muscles in the large shadow of the Jeffrey Stollmeyer Stand yesterday afternoon, Chris Gayle must have wondered at this strange beast called cricket. It’s so hard to fathom.
Up to lunch time, with Sri Lanka floundering on 99 for five, his West Indies side were so in control of this Second Digicel Test, a series-saving win on the third day seemed a possibility.
But now, with Sri Lanka dismissed only minutes before this sit-down for 268, it was a totally different game. Instead of needing just around 100 for victory, his West Indies side must now battle Chaminda Vaas, Muttiah Muralitharan and company to get 252 on Day Four, or face a first-ever series whitewash at home.
Little things, captain Chris might have thought, could make such a big difference.
What might he have been doing now had umpire Billy Bowden done the seemingly obvious and given Thilan Samaraweera out lbw to Dwayne Bravo when he was 37, instead of raising the crooked finger 87 runs later when Marlon Samuels ran him out?
How big a difference will those runs make?
They did a whole lot for Samaraweera.
His moderate series was transformed by his splendid effort of 124 (308 minutes 199 balls, 18 fours).
Established by counter-attack and developed through patient consolidation, Samaraweera, with the aid of Chaminda Vaas (45, two fours), took Sri Lanka out of the jungle with a seventh wicket partnership of 138.
That Samaraweera/Vaas rescue mission which stopped the rampant Windies bowlers cold, was spread over three hours in the last two sessions.
The diehard West Indians in a disapointing Saturday crowd at the Queen’s Park Oval gave Samaraweera generous applause when, with consecutive boundaries off Fidel Edwards, he reached his sixth hundred in Tests.
They had not welcomed his resistance. But his knock enhanced a day of engrossing Test cricket on a sporting pitch. Both sides had added value to the spectacle.
In its 78 years of Test cricket, the Oval has played host to several periods of drama.
The late Sir Frank Worrell, whose Test debut on this ground 60 years ago was commemorated by a short ceremony and a plaque unveiling before the start of play, may have even been a contributor to such folklore himself.
Yesterday, the 18 overs Sri Lanka batted before lunch was surely among the most riveting seen here.
In 18 overs, 78 runs were scored, but five wickets fell. Sri Lanka began it on level terms, West Indies ended it way in front.
The energy and athleticism of the young, excitable West Indians, keen to take decisive hold of the game, was met by thrilling, aggressive counterattack by opponents still prepared to inflict wounds, while licking their own.
Jerome Taylor was to ‘blame’ for starting the fire, first ball he bowled. It was the second over of the innings, and Malinda Warnapura, anticipating away movement, could not get his bat out of the way of a delivery which shaped back into him, and for the second time in the match, Sewnarine Chattergoon clutched the catch at third slip.
Two balls later, the other opener, Michael Vandort was gone too.
This time, Taylor’s quick reaction, pick-up, sharp turn and bullseye throw smacked the stumps at the striker’s end before the big man could get near the crease.
Vandort, sold short by his partner Kumar Sangakkara’s misjudgment of the run, banged his bat into the turf; disgust etched harshly on his face.
But off the square, in the gathering flock of fielders, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, his face beaming a smile, grabbed hold of the jubilant Taylor.
At four for two, Sri Lanka’s most accomplished pair—Sangakkara and captain Mahela Jayawardene found themselves together. But soon, they also disappeared.
With the total on 32, Jayawardene’s attempt at an expansive drive at first change Fidel Edwards’s fifth ball, resulted in a bottom edge which took the ball back onto his middle stump.
In the next over, without any further addition, Samuels in the gully held on tight as Sangakkara couldn’t control a rising Daren Powell ball.
It was desperation time now for the visitors as Samaraweera and Tilakaratne Dilshan came together.
They were not about to consolidate. Fierce counter-attack was their game.
Dilshan was dashing. Anything off-line delivered by the charged-up bowlers, was dispatched by some handsome driving through the cover region and in one instance off Powell, helped with strong wrists, clear over the backward square boundary. But Dilshan (25, four fours, one six) did not have the final laugh. He would have seen no humour at all in the sight of his off-stump pitched out of the ground by a Taylor off-cutter.
An enthralling first session ended with Sri Lanka sinking fast at 74 for five.
Their lead was just 58, with the last established pair of batsmen now in.
Samaraweera went to lunch on 15, with first innings standout, Chamara Silva for company.
But Silva could not reprise his counter-punching performance.
He got only to 13 when he went for another square drive at Taylor, the ball peeled off the outside edge and Samuels, falling to his left, pulled off another smart catch with both hands.
“Sammy” was playing a blinder. His critics in the Concrete Stand could not believe their eyes.
Sri Lanka were 99 for six. Surely, the Windies were close to cleaning things up.
But in cricket, the only sure thing is the unexpected. Yesterday, Samaraweera and Vaas were “Agents of the Unexpected.”
Gayle it was who finally separated them, via a good catch by wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin to remove Vaas.
Samuels’s chase to the third man boundary, diving stop and throw straight to the ’keeper eventually removed Samaraweera to make it 268 for nine. And Taylor (15.1-52-4), back for a new spell needed just one ball to finish off Muralitharan and the innings.
Earlier, the Windies extended their innings for a further 50 minutes in the morning as their remaining three wickets produced a further 26 runs before Muralitharan ended it with the wicket of Powell, lbw. Previously, Murali had also troubled and eventually dismissed Ramdin (13), caught off the outside edge by captain Jayawardene at slip.
Those wickets took the master spinner’s tally to five. And it was the 63rd time that the world bowling Test record holder had taken five in an innings.
The possibilities today for him are many. But so they also are for Gayle.
