IT was a finale that put the maxim the right way round for a change.
The level-headed partnership between Ramnaresh Sarwan and Denesh Ramdin at AMI Stadium in Christchurch on Saturday night snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in the second ODI against New Zealand and, according to Sarwan, “will give us momentum for the rest of the series.”
After the rain-ruined first match in Queenstown on New Year’s Eve, it put the West Indies 1-0 ahead in the series with three matches remaining.
With one notable, single-handed exception, the West Indies were past masters at rather snatching defeat from the jaws of victory in ODIs last year when they lost 13 matches, with only two wins, against ICC full member teams.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul clinched one victory, over Sri Lanka at the Queen’s Park Oval, with his unforgettable four and six off Chaminda Vaas’ last two balls.
The absence of such a crucial player on Saturday night, as he continued to nurse his sore left hand, made the West Indies’ success even more meaningful.
That Queen’s Park result apart, the West Indies often failed to take advantage of match-winning positions in 2008. There were two prime examples.
In the fourth ODI against Australia at Warner Park in St.Kitts in July, they were 271 for five, Chanderpaul and Ramdin together and 12 runs needed off 16 balls. Chanderpaul was out off the last ball of the 49th over and they lost by one run.
In the first ODI in Abu Dhabi in November, Pakistan needed 17 to win off the last over, bowled by Jerome Taylor. It was an improbability if not impossibility, but wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal slammed two sixes, Fawad Alam hit a four and the deed was done with one ball to spare.
The effect of Saturday night’s thrilling triumph was obvious from the reactions in the team’s dressing room area.
As the target of 158 from 28 overs under the Duckworth/Lewis method got more and more distant, captain Chris Gayle and his players sat silent and stony faced on their sofas.
The mood got more sombre when Kieron Pollard, on whose noted big-hitting victory seemed to depend, miscued his fifth ball into long-on’s lap with 48 needed off 33 balls.
It began to improve when Sarwan, playing with the certainty and intelligence that have earned him an ODI average of 40 drove Kyle Mills straight for six in the 25th over.
Scowls turned to smiles after Ramdin’s sensational scoop shot off the pacy Tim Southee sent the ball to the boundary over the fine-leg fielder within the semi-circle in the next over.
In the 27th, as Ramdin lashed two full tosses from off-spinner Jeetan Patel to the boundary and 14 were taken off the over, Gayle and his team-mates were on their feet, cheering and clapping.
It meant only four were needed off the last over from Southee. The deal wasn’t yet sealed and Ramdin would have been run out by yards had throws from wicket-keeper Brendon McCullum and point fielder Grant Elliott not missed the stumps.
This time, the West Indies would not be denied and, as Sarwan stroked the winning runs through the covers, delighted West Indians, who had grown unaccustomed to such moments, were racing onto the outfield to hail the two heroes.
“We felt if we could get one big over that that could bring us back into the game and would do it for us,” Man of the Match Sarwan, who was unbeaten 67 off 65 balls, said afterwards. “That is what we were counting on. That was part of our target and we got that big over (off Patel) to bring us back into the game.”
Sarwan praised Ramdin’s cool-headed role in scoring 28 off 18 balls.
“This innings is really going to give him a lot of confidence,” he noted . “He was under a bit of pressure but tonight he really played well. He took control, played freely and took the pressure off of me. He was the right man at the right time.”
In the remaining three matches, there are others who need to be the right men at the right time, especially in what is expected to be Chanderpaul’s continuing absence.
Opener Sewnarine Chattergoon, Xavier Marshall and Pollard are yet to put in a score of note. They need to, for the team’s sake and, with the home series against England imminent, for their own.
For the time being, the West Indies seek to take the momentum from Saturday night into the third match of five at Westpac Stadium here Wednesday night.
