Video: The telling stumping of Brian Lara that effectively ended West Indies' hopes.
West Indies' hopes of advancing to the semi-finals of Cricket World Cup 2007 took a severe hit today as the team turned in yet another uninspired performance in a convincing defeat at the hands of Sri Lanka. The Windies will now have to win all three remaining matches and hope for the likes of South Africa or Sri Lanka to struggle mightily in the remaining matches of the Super Eights stage.
After being sent in by Brian Lara, Sri Lanka started slowly and by the ninth over, had fallen to 35-2. Daren Powell once more proved to be the most penetrative of the Windies bowlers taking two wickets at a cost of only 38 runs. Having seen off Powell, Sanath Jayasuriya then proceeded to take hold of the match, scoring his second century of the tournament and 25th of his career. He was ably supported by Sri Lanka's captain Mahela Jayawardene who scored 82 in a third wicket partnership of 183. When Daren Powell had Jayasuriya bowled for 115, Sri Lanka had already progressed to 218 with 11 overs remaining, leaving the West Indies with their backs against the wall. Dwayne Bravo and Ian Bradshaw proved to be most ineffective, both going for in excess of 6.5 runs per over.
West Indies, needing 304 for victory, promoted Bravo with hopes of getting a quality start from the openers. However, the loss of three early wickets damaged any hopes of a rapid start, and with Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan rebuilding slowly, West Indies found themselves needing 10 runs per over after Sarwan fell in the 35th over. In spite of neutralizing Muttiah Muralitharan to the tune of 6.55 runs per over, West Indies failed to find any continuity in the middle overs, when part-timers Arnold and Dilshan completed 7 overs for a miserly 20 runs. When all was said and done, West Indies folded for 190, losing by 113 runs and surpassing the record margin of defeat attained against the Australians on Wednesday.
Captain Brian Lara claims that fatigue was a contributing factor to the listless display today after having played three matches in five days against high quality opponents. While excuses won't sit well with fans throughout the Caribbean, Rain, No Play expressed similar concerns regarding scheduling for the home team after the New Zealand game on Thursday. However, fatigue cannot excuse the elementary mistakes made by the batsmen. Lara and Sarwan fell to stumpings when both lazily slid their back feet outside of the popping crease. Marlon Samuels continued his poor shot selction when he played against the line of an off break from Muralitharan that, bowled from around the wicket, pitched in line with the stumps and trapped him LBW. The fielding was equally poor with Smith dropping a simple catch in the outfield, and multiple players allowing runs off mis-fields. Most crippling were the 25 extras conceded as the bowlers gifted 13 wides, a far cry from the sound performance turned in against Pakistan in the opening game of the tournament.
West Indies juggled its batting line-up as Rain, No Play suggested they should after the New Zealand defeat.
West Indies today - Gayle, Bravo, Chanderpaul, Lara, Sarwan, Samuels, Smith, Ramdin, Bradshaw, Taylor, Powell.
Rain, No Play's line-up - Gayle, Ramdin, Lara, Sarwan, Samuels, Chanderpaul, Smith, Bravo, Taylor, Powell, Collymore.
Chanderpaul showed today that he is capable of carrying the batting in the latter parts of the innings. In dismantling Muralitharan, he also demonstrated that he has the class to combat bowling of all variations. Perhaps it is time that Kieron Pollard be given a chance in the middle. His batting returns certainly can't be any worse than those of Dwayne Smith.
West Indies must now defeat South Africa, Bangladesh and England, preferably by large margins, in order to have any chance of advancing. West indian fans have every right to feel disheartened after such a promising start to the tournament against Pakistan. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka continues to look like one of the teams to beat.
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Mon, 02/04/2007 - 9:08am
It really was a gutless performance. The fielding was ragged - they gave away probably 20 runs or more in mis fields as balls went through the legs of several fielders. When they were batting the lineup smacked of panic as Lara was padded up to come in at #3. When the early wicket fell they sent in Chanderpaul instead. Chanderpaul and Sarwan/Bravo batted through 17 overs - 102 balls without scoring a boundary, even while they faced the likes of Russel Arnold and Dilshan. It was a gutless surrender.
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