Lara doubles up
- West Indies batsman delivers a gem
on otherwise meaningless final day
By Tony Cozier
At the
BEAUSEJOURS STADIUM
Stabroek News
June 25, 2003
BRIAN LARA transformed an otherwise meaningless final day of the drawn first Test yesterday into a batting master-class that gave St.Lucia’s rain-ruined inaugural Test, and the hundreds of school children admitted free, a gem to be remembered by.
Delayed for more than a day and a half by torrential rain and a sodden outfield that had prevented play since midway through the third day, the West Indies captain extended his 93 to 209, his 21st hundred and his fifth double in 95 Tests.
He was lucky to come through an early, searching examination by Muttiah Muralitheran, Sri Lanka’s wily off-spinner with the elastic joints, off whom he was missed on a straightforward stumping by the fumbling Romesh Kaluwitherana three overs into the day when still six short of his landmark.
But once he square-cut left-arm swing bowler Chaminda Vaas for his ninth boundary to pass his first goal, he batted with increasing certainty and flair.
Reeling off strokes in all directions, he added another 109 off 138 balls, with 16 of his 25 fours, and a long, straight six from off-spinner Thilan Samaraweera that celebrated the arrival of his double.
Not long after, he edged a catch to Kaluwitherana cutting at Prabath Nissanka, the tall fast bowler, with the second new ball.
All that followed was bound to be an anti-climax but Omari Banks used the opportunity to confirm the temperament and the technique he displayed in his debut series against Australia.
The tall, 20-year-old Anguillan kept Lara sensible, steadfast company for two hours, 20 minutes while the captain dominated a seventh wicket partnership of 136 before himself proceeding to his first half-century.
He was unbeaten after three hours, 20 minutes, with a hooked six off Nissanka and five fours to his name, when Lara closed the innings at 477 for nine, a satisfying lead of 123.
It offered Sri Lanka’s seasoned openers, Sanath Jayasuriya and Marvan Atapattu, the last couple of hours batting practice on a still flawless pitch in bright sunshine.
They regained some lost ground by comfortably putting together 126 without being separated before the match was called off.
Jayasuriya finished with his highest score of the tour, 72, and his only chance was a savage squarecut, his favourite, that hit umpire Daryl Harper plumb on the navel standing 30 yards away at point.
Atapattu followed his first innings 118 with 50, raising the question of how they can be bowled out by the West Indies’ limited attack on surfaces as benign as this. Sabina has been served notice.
But back to Lara, the centrepiece of the day.
His innings confirmed both his partiality to Sri Lankan bowling and his continuing form.
His 115 in St.Vincent was the only hundred in the 1997 series of two Tests between the teams and he followed with scores of 178, 221 and 130 in the three Tests in Sri Lanka in 2001 in which he scored 688 runs at an average of 114.
This was his third hundred in Tests for the season, following 110 and 122 in the preceding series against Australia. He also scored 116 in the second of three One-day Inter-nationals against the Sri Lankans.
After Muralitheran dismissed Marlon Samuels, stumped as he dragged his backfoot sweeping at one that left him, and Ridley Jacobs, lbw on the backfoot, Lara held the spotlight as only he can.
A drive down the ground off Muralitheran for his first boundary of the day got him going after his initial uncertainty.
Soon, he despatched the previously steady leg-spinner, Kashul Lokuarachchi for three consecutive fours - straight, swept and through extra-cover - in an over off which he took 16 and followed with three fours in an over off Nissanka and two more from the off-spinner Thilan Samaraweera.
By lunch, he was well on his way to his double at 177 and the long-term impression he was making on school children seeing him for the first time could only be guessed at. Banks, in the meantime, had gathered six. Lara duly arrived at his 200 with a boundary off Samaraweera, his 24th, and celebrated it with a straight six into the far car park next ball.
Not long afterwards, following seven and a half hours in the middle, he was gone to initial groans of disappointment that quickly gave way to a standing ovation. The ground may see more Test doubles but none quite as engaging.
There was time for Banks to verify his maturity, for Jerome Taylor to show he is better than a No.11 in this West Indies team and for Muralitheran to claim his fifth wicket, a tap back by Corey Collymore. It was the 38th time in 81 Tests he had at least half the opposition wickets.
But he needed 50 overs to get them and went for 138 runs on the placid pitch. It was an encouraging statistic for the West Indies for he is Sri Lanka’s main, if not only, threat.