West Indies vice-captain Ramnaresh Sarwan yesterday expressed disappointment on missing out on a century but said he was delighted with his form.
Sarwan topscored in the West Indies first innings score of 269-9 in reply to Sri Lanks’s 476-8 declared.
It was certainly back with a bang for Sarwan who missed the West Indies tour of South Africa through injury and has not played test cricket since May last year.
“It feels good to be back in the international arena once again,” said Sarwan at the post-match press conference yesterday following the end of the third day’s play of the first test of the Digicel Home Series at the National Stadium Providence.
Sarwan remarked that it was quite disappointing that the West Indies team was unable to post a good score and keep wickets in hand on a pitch which seemed perfect for batting.
“We set our sights on getting to the follow-on score but I think too much emphasis was placed on that and we are just about there but we still have a long road ahead of us.”
Sarwan said some of the batsmen were unlucky while he felt a few played incorrect shots which caused their downfall.
“But that is behind us and we’re hoping to avoid the follow-on and then we analyze our next move from there.”
Sarwan also gave credit to the Sri Lankan bowlers including spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan and pace ace Chaminda Vaas.
“Yes, I must give credit to the Sri Lankans as they bowled very well to get us into this position on such a good pitch, but mostly it was our batsmen being impatient that got them out.”
Sarwan said the pitch at Providence was not all that different from some of the playing surfaces in Sri Lanka. But he added that one could not take anything away from the Sri Lankans because they put on an excellent batting display.
He also praised the captaincy of Mahela Jayawardene.
“I think Mahela has done an excellent job thus far because it was excellent captaincy that contributed to our collapse,” he said. (KB)
