Hinds 113 in strong Windies reply

CASTRIES: Wavell Hinds smacked a fourth Test century yesterday to set up a promising West Indies position before heavy rain forced an early abandonment of the third day in the first Test against Sri Lanka at Beausejour Stadium. Left-handers Hinds and captain Brian Lara (93 not out) added 174 for the third wicket as the home team, resuming at 161 for two, pushed on to 272 for four in reply to Sri Lanka’s first innings 354. Torrential rain arrived about 45 minutes after lunch to force an early end. Hinds, 74 overnight, went on to a fine 113 off 143 deliveries in 216 minutes. The Jamaican plundered eight fours to add to his four sixes from Saturday afternoon. Lara, continuing from 36, cracked eight fours off 190 balls in 246 minutes. There was enough time for the controversial dismissal of Ramnaresh Sarwan just before the heavy showers came. Sarwan was given out caught off a rebound from the short-leg fielder Kumar Sangakkara off Muttiah Muralitharan’s off-spin. But television replays immediately revealed that standing umpire Billy Bowden’s decision, after consultation with his partner Daryl Harper, was an error.

Sarwan pulled hard off Sangakkara’s foot and the ball ricocheted to Marvan Attapatu at midwicket. But the replays clearly showed that the ball bounced just before making impact with Sangakkara’s foot as he shied away from the attacking stroke. Match referee Wasim Raja of Pakistan said after play that the umpires were not permitted to consult with the television umpire, Billy Doctrove, to make such a decision. Under the recent International Cricket Council (ICC) interpretation of the laws, on-field umpires can call on the TV replay official to rule on run out, stumping, caught and hit wicket decisions. However, on caught decisions, they can only consult to  determine whether the catch has been taken cleanly by the  fielder, not on incidents such as yesterday’s. Luck had not been with Sri Lanka earlier as they missed two chances to remove Hinds before he passed three figures. Attapatu had a run out chance from mid-on, while Prabath Nissanka grassed a sitter at mid-off from Chaminda Vaas’ bowling. Hinds, then 80 and 86, made the most of his fortune and passed his milestone off 123 balls in just over three hours with another streak of luck. His edged sweep carried over the slips and to the boundary for his sixth four. The 26-year-old, though, was mostly fluent throughout his forthright innings but was eventually cut short after a mix-up with Lara. Their stand produced 174 at a run-a-minute when Hinds drove to mid-on and was sent back too late by his captain. This time, Attapatu made no mistake and his flat return to the wicket-keeper left Hinds run out by yards.                                                           

Scoreboard
WEST INDIES vs SRI LANKA
Sri Lanka 1st inns: 354
West Indies 1st inns:
(Overnight 161/2)
C Gayle LBW b Muralitharan*27
D Ganga LBW b Vaas 12
W Hinds run out 113
B Lara not out 93
R Sarwan c Atapattu b Muralitharan 7
M Samuels not out 5
EXTRAS (LB3, NB12) 15
Total for four wickets 272
TO BAT: R Jacobs, O Banks, M Dillon, C Collymore, J Taylor.
Fall of wickets: 18; 66; 240; 262.
BOWLING: Vaas 24.2-4-62-1 (NB4); Nissanka 12-0-69-0 (NB4); Samaraweera 4-0-31-0 (NB2); Muralitharan 25-2-92-2 (NB2); Lokuarachchi 9-3-15-0.