History this week No. 2008/14

(Part III)
By Winston McGowan

Hashan TillekeratneThis third in-stalment of this article will focus on the first of the three Test series be-tween the West Indies and Sri Lanka which immediately preceded the current tour by Mahela Jayawardene’s team. Two of these series were contested in Sri Lanka in 2001 and 2005 and the other in the Caribbean in 2003. Until then the West Indies were ahead in clashes between the two sides, with one victory and two draws in the three Tests played in 1993 and 1997. This picture, however, changed in the next encounter between the two teams in Sri Lanka in 2001 when the West Indies suffered crushing defeats in all three Tests.
Brian LaraIn the first Test at the Galle International Stadium in November 2001, Sri Lanka gained a victory which seemed highly unlikely after the West Indies, batting first, compiled a substantial score of 448. This total was due largely to a masterful century (178) by Brian Lara, his 16th Test hundred, 88 by Ramnaresh Sarwan, 12 runs short of what would have been his first Test century, and 69 by skipper Carl Hooper.

The team seemed destined to achieve an even bigger total when it was 423 for four, but suffered a dramatic collapse, the last six wickets falling for only 25 runs. This collapse was due mainly to the skills of the crafty off-spinner, Muttiah Muralitharan, who took four of these wickets for 9 runs in 6.4 overs, enabling him to achieve an innings analysis of 6 for 126 in 53.4 overs, the 29th occasion he took five or more wickets in a Test innings.

Sri Lanka replied with a score of 590 for 9 wickets declared due mainly to hundreds by Kumar Sangakkara (140) and Hashan Tillekeratne (105 not out) and half-centuries by Mahela Jayawardene (99), Thelan Samaraweera (77) and Marvan Atapattu (61).

The West Indies, 142 behind, surprisingly collapsed in their second innings for 144, the last five wickets falling for 13 runs. Only four batsmen reached double figures – Lara (40), Darren Ganga (33), Sarwan (30) and Neil McGarrell (10 not out). Muralitharan (5 for 44 in 31.3 overs) had another five-wicket haul, including the last four wickets for four runs in 21 balls.

The Sri Lankans knocked off the three runs required for their first Test victory against West Indies just after tea, winning the game by the wide margin of 10 wickets.

The second Test at Kandy was a comparatively low-scoring affair which ended in a Sri Lankan victory by 131 runs. The home team had scores of 288 and 224 for 6 wickets declared, to which the West Indies replied with totals of 191 and 190. The leading scores in the first innings were Lara (74) and Chris Gayle (44), with six batsmen making ducks, and in the second innings Marlon Samuels (54), Sarwan (48) and Lara (45).

Once more the visitors failed to cope with the wiles of Muralitharan who took 4 for 54 and 6 for 81. This was the ninth occasion he took ten wickets in a Test, equalling the record of the New Zealander, Richard Hadlee, and the fourth Test in succession, breaking the Australian, Clarrie Grimett’s record of 10-wicket hauls in three consecutive Tests in 1935-36.

Sri Lanka also had an easy victory in the third and final Test at Colombo by 10 wickets. As in the first Test, the West Indies scored over 300 runs on the first day for the loss of only three wickets, due again principally to a third-wicket century partnership (194 runs) between Sarwan and Lara.

The batting then collapsed for a score of 390, the last seven wickets falling for only 43 runs. Only three batsmen reached double figures – Lara (221), his fourth Test double century, Sarwan (69) and Hooper (56). Lara’s innings was the highest score by a visiting batsman in a Test in Sri Lanka and during it he became the seventh West Indian batsman to score 7000 Test runs.

Sri Lanka replied with a mammoth score of 627 for 9 wickets declared, the highest innings total in any Test between the two sides and the first time the West Indies conceded 600 runs in a Test since a team, weakened by the Kerry Packer disruption, toured India in 1978 – 79. This total was largely the result of a double century by Tilleratne (204 not out) and four fifties by Samaraweera (87), Sanath Jayasuriya (85), Russell Arnold (65) and Sangakkara (55).

In their second innings the West Indies, facing a deficit of 237, were at one stage 202 for 3 due mainly to another third-wicket century partnership (141 runs) between Sarwan and Lara, but collapsed for a total of 262. Only four batsmen reached double figures – Lara (130), Sarwan (66), Ridley Jacobs (31 not out) and Ganga (10).

Sri Lanka scored the 26 runs needed for victory without losing a wicket. Unlike the first two Tests, on this occasion it was the left-arm pacer, Chaminda Vaas, not Muralitharan, who undermined the West Indies batting. He took seven wickets in both innings, conceding 120 runs in the first in 32.2 overs and 71 in the second in 25 overs, thus achieving match figures of 14 for 191.

Thus the West Indies suffered their 21st loss overseas in 25 Tests and their fifth whitewash abroad in five years. The Sri Lankans, on the other hand, achieved a clean sweep in a three-Test series for the first time.

Sri Lanka’s success was due above all to productive batting and penetrative bowling. Four of their specialist batsmen had an average of over 60 runs an innings and two others over forty. Particularly outstanding was Tillekeratne who had a phenomenal average of 403, after being dismissed only once in four innings and amassing 403 runs, including a double hundred and a single century.

The batting was complemented by very effective bowling by Vaas with his two-way swing and Muralitharan with his exceptional turn, deceptive flight and clever variations. Vaas headed his team’s bowling averages with 26 wickets at an average of 15.42 each, with Muralitharan second with 24 wickets at 22.33 runs each.

In striking contrast, the West Indies bowling badly lacked penetration. The most successful bowler was the wrist spinner, Dinanath Ramnarine, who headed the averages with 10 wickets for 356 runs or 35.60 each and a best bowling performance of four for 66 in the second innings of the second Test. Second to him was Mervyn Dillon with nine wickets for 379 runs and an average of 42.11.

The visitors’ batting was better than the bowling but still left much to be desired. The most memorable feature of the series was the brilliant batting of Lara, especially his intriguing
successful duels with Muralitharan whom he mastered. He had an aggregate of 688 runs with scores of 178 and 40, 74 and 45 and 221 and 130 and an excellent average of 114.66.

In the final Test he had the rare achievement of scoring more than half of the runs made by his team with the bat in both innings. He also became only the sixth batsman to score a double (or triple) century and a single hundred in the same Test, but the first to do so and be on a losing team.

Lara’s aggregate of 688 runs has been exceeded only once in a three-match series, namely, by England’s Graham Gooch who scored 752 against India in 1990 with an average of 125.33. Lara easily surpassed the aggregate of the two other West Indians who have scored over 500 runs in a three-Test rubber. These batsmen were Seymour Nurse with 558 runs (average 111.60) in New Zealand in 1968-69 and Jimmy Adams with 520 runs (average 173.33) in India in 1994.

Lara received consistent support only from Sarwan, with whom he shared three century partnerships. Sarwan with scores of 88 and 30, 17 and 48 and 69 and 66 had an aggregate of 318 runs and was second to Lara with an average of 53 runs an innings. It was in this series, where he batted at Number Three for only the second time, that he made a successful claim to occupy this position. The remainder of the West Indies batting was extremely disappointing. Its poverty was reflected in the shameful fact that three of the specialist batsmen had averages of below 20 runs an innings – Ganga, fourth with 17.33, Samuels sixth with 12.66 and Gayle seventh with 9.0. Gayle was the greatest disappointment with scores of 9 and 1, 44 and 0, 0 and 0, a double duck and three successive ducks, being dismissed on five of the six occasions by his nemesis, Chaminda Vaas. The batting clearly missed Shivnarine Chanderpaul who withdrew through injury before the tour began.

Apart from Sarwan, the performance of the Guyanese members of the team was very unsatisfactory. Neil Mc Garrell in his only Test had scores of 4 and 10 not out and failed to capture even a single wicket, conceding 95 runs in 31 overs of his orthodox left-arm spin.

Paceman Colin Stuart, who played in the first two Tests, had figures of 2 for 167 in 46.3 overs. In the first innings of the second Test he had the ignominy of being banned by the umpires from bowling for the rest of the innings for delivering two unintentional high full tosses or beamers
(both called no ball) in his first three deliveries. This was first instance of such a ban in Test cricket.

Hooper’s performance was better than that of McGarrell and Stuart but still disappointing. He had only two satisfactory innings (69 and 56), finishing third in the team’s batting averages with a low average of 27.83, after scoring 167 runs in six innings. Furthermore, although he was by far his team’s most economical bowler, he lacked penetration. He captured a wicket in only one innings, namely, in the first innings of the final Test when he took two for 112 in 43 overs.

In the series he had figures of two wickets for 231 runs in 101 overs, of which 20 were maidens. In the process he got his 100 Test wicket, an important landmark, though, admittedly, no other bowler has needed as many balls (12,073) or Tests (90) as he to perform that feat.

By the end of the series the West Indies and Sri Lanka had played six Tests in three encounters, with the Sri Lankans winning three, losing one and drawing two games. This 2001 series revealed or confirmed several very disturbing features of West Indies Test cricket, especially the poor opening partnerships, the fragility of the lower order, the unexpected cataclysmic collapses, the lack of penetration of the bowling, and the dismal performances overseas. Most of these features regrettably continue to plague West Indies cricket