Sarwan steers Windies to first win in Super Eight
… beat Bangladesh by 99 runs
By Simon Evans
Guyana Chronicle
April 20, 2007
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (Reuters) - World Cup hosts West Indies finally picked up their first win in the Super Eight stage with a 99-run victory over Bangladesh yesterday in a game between two already eliminated sides.
Ramnaresh Sarwan struck an unbeaten 91 as West Indies recovered from the loss of two early wickets to make a total of 230 for five and then paceman Daren Powell claimed three wickets as Bangladesh were dismissed for 131 in the 44th over.
Brian Lara's side, who had lost all four of their previous second-round games, were struggling at eight for two following the loss of openers Chris Gayle and Devon Smith.
But solid knocks from Marlon Samuels (31), Shivnarine Chanderpaul (50) and a lively partnership between Sarwan and Lara (33) helped them to a reasonable total.
A healthy crowd at a sun-drenched Kensington Oval had groaned when Smith was clean-bowled by Mashrafe Mortaza and then Gayle, after surviving a strong appeal for caught behind, was trapped lbw by Syed Rasel.
Mortaza and Rasel produced movement and change of pace, as well as nagging accuracy and they restricted West Indies to 17 for two after 10 overs.
UNDER PRESSURE
Under pressure, Samuels and Chanderpaul then got their heads down and made progress, albeit slowly, putting on a 47 partnership in nearly 19 overs before Samuels went with a frustrated shot as he was caught behind off the spin of Saqibul Hasan.
Chanderpaul was joined by fellow Guyanese batsman Sarwan, widely tipped to replace Lara as the one-day captain, and they continued the building work, putting on 81 in 16.1 overs.
But from the ball after he brought up his half-century Chanderpaul was bowled attempting to hit across the line to Aftab Ahmed.
In came Lara, in his penultimate one-day international before he retires from the format, and along with the well settled Sarwan the skipper helped step up the pace.
Lara hit a six over mid-wicket and then another over point as he made a lively 33 in 27 balls before he was caught at cover off Abdur Razzak.
The hosts racked up 84 runs off the last 10 overs and they gained a total which put the pressure on Bangladesh.
The reply got off to a bad start when opener Tamim Iqbal, who had been dropped by Lara, was run-out following a mix-up with Javed Omar.
Local boy Corey Collymore, getting some bounce out of the wicket, then claimed two vital wickets with Aftab Ahmed caught behind by Denesh Ramdin off a ball that left him and then it was 23 for three when Saqibul Hasan failed to deal with a steeply rising delivery and Ramdin snaffled up a simple catch.
Powell's second spell finished off any realistic chance of a revival from Bangladesh with Omar caught by Gayle and then had captain Habibul Bashar caught by Dwayne Bravo at third slip to leave the score at 52 for six.
Mortaza provided some resistance with a gutsy 37 before he was yorked by Bravo who then got rid of Razzak.
Gayle picked up the wicket of Rasel to close the innings and give the home support something to smile about at last.
They finish their campaign against England in Bridgetown tomorrow. West Indies will begin a tour of England next month.
WEST INDIES innings
C. Gayle lbw b Rasel 1
D.S. Smith b Mashrafe Mortaza 5
S. Chanderpaul b Aftab Ahmed 50
M. Samuels c wkpr M. Rahim b Saqib-ul-Hasan 31
R. Sarwan not out 91
B. Lara c J. Omar b A. Razzak 33
D. Bravo not out 9
Extras: (lb-3, w-7) 10
Total: (five wkts, 50 overs) 230
Fall of wickets: 1-8, 2-8, 3-55, 4-136, 5-196.
Bowling: Mashrafe Mortaza 10-2-39-1 (w-2), Syed Rasel 10-2-48-1 (w-5), Abdur Razzak 10-0-44-1, Mohammad Rafique 10-0-46-0, Saqib-ul-Hasan 8-0-38-1, Aftab Ahmed 2-0-12-1.
BANGLADESH innings
J. Omar c Gayle b Powell 16
T. Iqbal run-out (Bravo) 7
A. Ahmed c wkpr Ramdin b Collymore 6
Saqib-ul-Hasan c wkpr Ramdin b Collymore 0
M. Ashraful c Samuels b Powell 2
H. Bashar c Bravo b Powell 12
M. Rahim not out 38
M. Mortaza b Bravo 37
M. Rafique lbw b Gayle 0
A. Razzak c Lara b Bravo 1
S. Rasel b Gayle 2
Extras: (lb-1, w-7, nb-2) 10
Total: (all out, 43.5 overs) 131
Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-21, 3-23, 4-34, 5-36, 6-52, 7-110, 8-111, 9-114.
Bowling: Collymore 7-1-11-2 (w-1), Powell 10-0-38-3 (w-4), Taylor 8-0-25-0 (w-1), Bravo 10-3-28-2 (nb-2, w-1), Gayle 8.5-0-28-2.
Points: West Indies 2, Bangladesh 0.