Sri Lanka cruise to easy 9 wicket win

Farveez Maharoof the wrecker

Chris Dhambarage reporting

Mumbai, Saturday. Right arm paceman Farveez Maharoof picked up his maiden five wicket haul as Sri Lanka cruised to an easy nine wicket victory over the West Indies in their International Cricket Council Champions Trophy Mini World Cup last qualifying round match at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai here on Saturday.

Sri Lanka raced to their target scoring 83 for 1 from just 13.2 overs after they had bundled out the West Indies to their lowest ever total against the islanders. Opener Sanath Jayasuriya smashed an unbeaten 45 from 47 balls with nine fours after his partner Upul Tharanga had departed for a first ball duck. Skipper Mahela Jayawardena also remained unbeaten on 34 from 35 balls having struck seven fours.

Maharoof who came into the attack as the fourth change bowler sent down his nine overs on the trot to return magnificent figures of six wickets for runs. His performance was quite a significant one as he beat the previous tournament best figures of five wickets for 11 runs held by Shahid Afridi of Pakistan against Kenya in Edgbaston in 2004. The West Indies total was also their lowest in the history of the ICC tournament following their score of 179 against Sri Lanka in Nairobi in 2000.

Maharoof whose previous one day international best effort was four wickets for 20 runs against India at Ahmedebad last year, bowled his heart out to sent back the cream of the West Indian batting after skipper Brian Lara had won the toss and elected to bat first. The former Sri Lanka youth captain exploited the conditions to good effect while mixing his deliveries and the clever change of pace really deceived the West Indian batsman.

Maharoof was no doubt really encouraged by the slowness of the wicket with some of the deliveries keeping very low and even unplayable. But more importantly he stuck to his basics and bowled a straight line and length which made run making even more difficult. In addition his task was also made much easier following a tight opening spell from the veteran Chaminda Vaas.

In fact left arm paceman Vaas caused the early damage with a brilliant opening spell which put the opposition under tremendous pressure. The defending champions always struggled to put a decent score on the board from the moment opener Chris Gayle edged a Vaas delivery into the safe hands of wicket keeper Kumar Sangakkara. From there onwards wickets fell at regular intervals as the West Indies innings crumbled in 146 minutes and 30.4 overs.

Maharoof had a dream start to the match when he trapped Brian Lara in front of the wicket in his very first over. Left handed Lara of course had earlier survived two similar chances against the same bowler with the TV replays showing the ball would have clearly hit the stumps. Nevertheless Maharoof continued to bowl with a lot of fire and purpose and was finally rewarded for his consistency and accuracy.

The twenty two year old who made his one day international debut just two years ago had his finest moment in the 25th over when he picked up his first five wicket haul while trapping Carlton Baugh in front of the wicket to leave the West Indies tottering at 64 for 8. The innings received some respectability with Wavell Hinds hitting a top score of 28 from 86 balls with the help of three fours.

WEST INDIES

C. Gayle c Sangakkara b Vaas	 	 0
S. Chanderpaul c Sangakkara b Malinga	 8
R. Sarwan lbw b Vaas	 		 0
B. Lara lbw b Maharoof			13
W. Hinds c Jayasuriya b Maharoof	28
D. Bravo lbw b Maharoof	 		 0
M. Samuels b Maharoof	 		 1
D. Smith c Muralitharan b Maharoof	 0
C. Baugh lbw b Maharoof	 		 1
F. Edwards b Malinga	 		 4
C. Collymore not out	 		 8
Extras (lb-5 nb-10 w-2)			17
TOTAL (all out, 30.4 overs)		80

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-1, 2-12, 3-13, 4-51, 5-55, 
6-58, 7-58, 8-64, 9-67, 10-80.
BOWLING: C. Vaas 6-2-6-2 (nb-4 w-1), L. Malinga 5.4-0-26-2 (nb-2 w-1), 
D. Fernando 5-0-15-0 (nb-1), F. Maharoof 9-2-14-6 (nb-3), 
M. Muralitharan 5-0-14-0.

SRI LANKA
                             
U. Tharanga b Edwards 			 0
S. Jayasuriya not out			45
M. Jayawardene not out			34
Extras (nb-3, w-1)	 		 4
TOTAL (for 1 wicket, 13.2 overs)	83

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-0.
BOWLING: F. Edwards 4-0-17-1 (nb-2), C. Collymore 5-0-21-0, 
D. Smith 3-0-29-0 (nb-1 w-1), M. Samuels 1.2-0-16-0.