West Indies win a series... at last!

IT TOOK a long time, but at last, there is something for West Indies cricket fans to celebrate. The season has been long and painful, but the agony has been wiped from the faces of all West Indies with that emphatic seven-wicket victory over Sri Lanka yesterday in the second and final Test at Sabina Park, Jamaica. The Jamaican fans were concentrating on the match, and not the 30th anniversary celebrations of Caricom taking place at Montego Bay and which is being hosted by Jamaican Prime Minister PJ Patterson (see page 15). Thousands of Trinidadians and Tobagonians were glued to their television sets yesterday to see the anti-climax — a comprehensive victory inside three days. While the weather disrupted what could have been a marvellous contest in St Lucia in the first Test, there was no such intervention in Jamaica. Brian Charles Lara, in his second coming as West Indies captain, once again proved to be the match winner with a blazing 80 not out, being the one to hit the winning run off Muttiah Muralitharan, the Sri Lanka mystery spinner. Yesterday’s victory was a welcome one based on the results so far this season. Lara took over the captaincy from Carl Hooper at the beginning of the season and was entrusted with a very young team to face the world champs, Australia.
 
And despite individual performances with the bat, West Indies were trounced in the first three Test matches in Guyana, Trinidad, and Barbados. When the Windies bowlers finally got a fast pitch in Antigua, Australia crashed for 240. The Antiguan Test turned out to be a record for the Windies. Nine years ago, it was Lara scoring 375 against England to score the highest individual Test score.  This time, West Indies successfully chased a record 418 in the fourth innings to beat Australia with their combination of world class bowlers — Lee, Gillespie, and Bichel. Then came the one-day series with Australia rattling off wins in the first four matches. However, the Windies bounced back to take the final three with a win in Port-of-Spain and two in Grenada. With the team on a high, Lara was looking forward to the Sri Lanka visit. The one-day series was played first, but West Indies failed and lost 1-2. The Caribbean side had only themselves to blame. The focus shifted to the Test series and after the washout in St Lucia, it was down to the Sabina Park finale. Despite the criticisms from fans about the sudden selection of unknown Bajan Fidel Edwards, Lara’s big gamble paid off when the small-framed fast bowler claimed five scalps in his first Test match. Sri Lanka made only 208, but the Windies faltered being all out for just 191. Yesterday, Sri Lanka resumed their second innings with a lead of 146 runs. The visitors were looking for runs as well as to occupy the crease for some time.

That was not to happen as Corey Collymore, who had not played Test cricket for four years, snared seven for 57 to crash Sri Lanka to 194. This left the Windies with just 212 to win and as Caribbean fans know, this could have been “too much” for Lara’s men. When Chris Gayle was out with the score on one, butterflies filled many Caribbean stomachs on a Sabbath Sunday. But Ramnaresh Sarwan and Lara ensured that this was not to happen as they belted the Sri Lanka bowling to pilot West Indies to a seven-wicket victory and a 1-0 series triumph. Lara was the happiest man around when he was interviewed by commentator Ian Bishop at the end of the match. He is now looking forward to a rest before the challenge of tours to Zimbabwe and South Africa later this year. Sri Lanka return home soon with another loss outside their country.