Stylish Sarwan steers WI
Monday, 2 March 2009
Fourth Test, Barbados (day three, close): England 600-6 dec v West Indies 398-5
Ramnaresh Sarwan's imperious unbeaten 184 guided West Indies to 398-5, 202 runs behind England after three days of the fourth Test in Barbados, reports BBC.
After Graeme Swann struck with his second ball and again before lunch, Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul put on 122, their seventh century stand.
Chanderpaul made 70 and Brendan Nash shared 53 with Sarwan, but both were controversially ousted after referrals.
Sarwan and Denesh Ramdin took their team within three of the follow-on.
At the close, Sarwan was only nine short of 500 runs for the series and played with great fluency, with all of his 19 fours caressed through the off-side.
The talk before the series was of the difficulty in dislodging Chanderpaul, but his 28-year-old fellow Guyanese Sarwan has proved the kingpin, with three centuries and a lowest score of 94.
As the Windies resumed on 85-1, England knew that taking another 19 wickets to level the series was not going to be easy given such a flat surface, and that was further demonstrated when Sarwan stylishly drove two boundaries in the opening over of the day from Stuart Broad.
They tried all manner of tactics against him, Broad resorting to some persistent short-pitched stuff from around the wicket, but Sarwan stood firm for his 14th Test century.
He could well have gone on 51, however, when Broad's well directed short ball was fended awkwardly, but looped to safety as no short-leg was in place, and putting one in as an after-thought was no consolation for the bowler.
Left-handed opener Devon Smith ended a run of 23 innings without a fifty but was rather fortunate to record his fourth Test half century.
Ramnaresh Sarwan's imperious unbeaten 184 guided West Indies to 398-5, 202 runs behind England after three days of the fourth Test in Barbados, reports BBC.
After Graeme Swann struck with his second ball and again before lunch, Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul put on 122, their seventh century stand.
Chanderpaul made 70 and Brendan Nash shared 53 with Sarwan, but both were controversially ousted after referrals.
Sarwan and Denesh Ramdin took their team within three of the follow-on.
At the close, Sarwan was only nine short of 500 runs for the series and played with great fluency, with all of his 19 fours caressed through the off-side.
The talk before the series was of the difficulty in dislodging Chanderpaul, but his 28-year-old fellow Guyanese Sarwan has proved the kingpin, with three centuries and a lowest score of 94.
As the Windies resumed on 85-1, England knew that taking another 19 wickets to level the series was not going to be easy given such a flat surface, and that was further demonstrated when Sarwan stylishly drove two boundaries in the opening over of the day from Stuart Broad.
They tried all manner of tactics against him, Broad resorting to some persistent short-pitched stuff from around the wicket, but Sarwan stood firm for his 14th Test century.
He could well have gone on 51, however, when Broad's well directed short ball was fended awkwardly, but looped to safety as no short-leg was in place, and putting one in as an after-thought was no consolation for the bowler.
Left-handed opener Devon Smith ended a run of 23 innings without a fifty but was rather fortunate to record his fourth Test half century.