Batsmen dominate Windies practice match

BRIDGETOWN: Five batsmen passed 50 with Wavell Hinds’ 92 the highest as Brian Lara’s side prevailed over Ramnaresh Sarwan’s team by five runs in the first of two practice matches on yesterday, as West Indies stepped up preparations for next month’s tri-nation limited-overs series in Australia. On a pitch tailor-made for batting, Sarwan’s team slumped from 221 for two to 253 all out in pursuit of a target of 259 in 49 overs before a very appreciative crowd of close to 1,000, including several tourists. Hinds, who was missed twice, and Daren Ganga laid the foundation for the run chase by adding 129 off 20.4 overs for the first wicket.

Ganga fell to the off-spin of Narsingh Deonarine for 58 off 63 balls including nine boundaries before left-hander Hinds and fellow Jamaican Marlon Samuels sustained the tempo by putting on 75 in 14.4 overs. Hinds’ knock came off 120 deliveries and contained nine fours and two sixes. Devon Smith dropped him on 22 at slip off left-arm fast-medium bowler Deighton Butler and, on 53, Runako Morton, also at slip, put him down off Deonarine. But the dismissal of Samuels for 41 led to a dramatic collapse as the last eight wickets tumbled for 32 runs. Earlier, Chris Gayle, Lara and Xavier Marshall all helped themselves to half-centuries as well in a total of 258 for nine off 49 overs when a sharp shower ended the innings.

Gayle looked in ominous form as he lashed 70 off 98 balls with four boundaries and two sixes before new West Indies team coach Bennett King went onto the field and asked him to retire “out” with the score at 135 to allow Lara to get a knock. The move almost backfired as wicketkeeper Courtney Browne dropped Lara off the very first ball he faced from left-arm spin bowler Ryan Hinds as he tried to steer it to third man. Lara went on to smash 65 including six fours and three sixes. He was particularly savage on lanky fast bowler Dwight Washington, whose last four deliveries of what was his final over were crashed for 18.

Marshall, a member of the Young West Indies side who were beaten finalists in the ICC Youth World Cup Bangladesh last February, scored 55 from 65 deliveries with three fours and a six. Following the dismissal of Smith, who edged an outswinger from left-arm fast bowler Pedro Collins to Browne in the third over of the match, Gayle and Sherwin Ganga (38) added 99. Gayle’s two sixes were well struck. The first was smashed over mid-wicket off Collins and the next hit the roof of the Kensington Stand off Mervyn Dillon and went out the ground over square-leg.

Sherwin Ganga emerged from an uncertain start during which he was beaten on four consecutive occasions in one over by Collins, but he soon grew in confidence and played a few attractive strokes. Ryan Hinds returned to the field to bowl during the Sarwan XI innings and picked up two wickets apart from effecting a run out. Experienced swing bowler Corey Collymore was rested for the match because of a side strain, while fellow Barbadian, left-arm medium-fast bowler Ian Bradshaw also took a rest due to illness. The final match will again be played at Kensington today before the players return to the Three Ws Oval at the Cave Hill campus of the University of the West Indies to continue their three-week camp, which is in the second week.