Herath throttle hangs Windies
by Ranjan Anandappa in Galle
Sri Lanka took a step closer to take the Sobers-Tissera trophy
beating West Indies by an innings and six runs with a day and a half to
spare in the first cricket Test at Galle yesterday.
A desperate effort by Jermain Blackwood who staged a lone battle to
prevent his side from an innings defeat failed by just six runs as
Blackwood and Shanon Gabriel added 38 runs for the last wicket before
Blackwood while shielding his partner and trying to avoid the ignominy
of an innings defeat finally threw in the towel going for a big hit.
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Rangana Herath is congratulated by his team mates (Picture
by Saman Mendis) |
The game left people in doubt on certain issues it illustrated to a
great effect how dependent was Sri Lanka on Herath’s bowling. Without
him the spin department looked ominously bare. Two months ago he bowled
Sri Lanka to victory against India by taking seven wickets. Yesterday he
had a match bag of 10 for 147.
The West Indies needing a further 166 runs with eight wickets in hand
to make Sri Lanka bat again on the fourth day and avoid the innings
defeat got off to a dreadful start losing night watchman Devendra Bishoo
after adding just four runs to his total.
Bishoo cut a short delivery from Herath which flew from the left-
hander’s edge and Mathews at first slip grabbed a head high catch. The
wicket was in perfect condition and there seemed no reason why the West
Indies should not have made a fight of the game. Besides Jermaine
Blackwood who batted with gusto and displayed that there was nothing
mystic about the Lankan bowling attack including Rangana Herath, was not
hesitant to counter Herath’s spin by stepping out.
In the quest of the 233 runs which they required to make Sri Lanka
bat again, Blackwood stepped out to hoist three sixes and ten fours in
his 92 after facing 135 deliveries. With the exception of Blackwood the
rest batted lamentably and collapsed to the combination of spin and
pace.
Rangana Herath bowled with his usual craft and resource and was doing
with the ball having the West Indies batting on a tight sling. The
bowlers had a thankless task. They had not much help from the pitch and
all they could do was bowl to a line and length.
Herath and paceman Nuwan Pradeep did it superbly. After Herath’s
dispatching of nightwatchman Devendran Bishoo and Samuels in consecutive
deliveries Herath was on a hat-trick. Nuwan Pradeep who looked the pick
of the fast bowlers gave admirable support to Herath who was creating a
lot of doubt in the batsman’s mind.
After the dismissal of Bishoo, Marlon Samuels on whom the West
Indians had high hopes for a revival cut a sorry sight trying to be
inordinately cautious. Samuels padded up to Herath without offering a
stroke to a ball which came in slightly and the lbw decision was an easy
one for the umpire to uphold.
As long as Samuels and Darren Bravo were together the Windies had a
glimmer of hope of a fight. With Marlon Samuels gone and a couple of
overs later Darren Bravo edging a peach of a delivery from Pradeep to
offer a straight forward catch to keeper Kusal Perera, the West Indians
effort of forcing the Lankans to bat for the second time squarely rested
on the shoulders of skipper Jason Holder and Jermain Blackwood who was
approaching his 50.
At lunch the visitors were 156 for 6 with Blackwood 49 n.o and Jason
Holder unbeaten on 8 still 77 runs adrift of making the hosts bat again.
Soon after lunch Holder made his intentions of negotiating Herath
hitting him for a straight six after which Jermaine Blackwood reached
his 50 striking a six and five boundaries.
Earlier Blackwood and Denesh Ramdin were engaged in a 48-run stand
for the seventh wicket before the other let arm spinner Milinda
Siriwardene had Ramdin caught by Kaushal Silva for his second wicket.
Scoreboard
Sri Lanka 1st innings 484
(Dimuth Karunaratne 186,Dinesh Chandimal 151,Angelo Mathews 48)
West Indies 1st innings 251
(Darren Bravo 50,Rangana Herath 6 for 68)
West Indies 2nd innings:
follow-on
Kraigg Brathwaite lbw Herath 34
Shai Hope b Siriwardana 06
Darren Bravo c Perera b Pradeep 31
Devendra Bishoo c Mathews b Herath 10
Marlon Samuels lbw Herath 00
Jermaine Blackwood c Silva b Prasad 92
Denesh Ramdin c Silva b Siriwardana 11
Jason Holder run out 18
Kemar Roach st Perera b Herath 05
Jerome Taylor lbw b Prasad 05
Shannon Gabriel not out 07
Extras (lb3 w2 nb3) 08
Total: all out (68.3 overs) 227
Fall of wickets: 1-18 (Hope), 2-60 (Brathwaite), 3-74 (Bishoo)
4-74 (Samuel), 5-88 (Bravo), 6-136 (Ramdin)
7-172 (Holder), 8-178 (Roach), 9-189 (Taylor)
10-227 (Blackwood)
Bowling: Prasad 9.3-3-28-2
Herath 22-5-79-4
Pradeep 14-1-28-1
Siriwardana 12-1-60-2
Kaushal 11-3-29-0 |
