Date-stamped : 10 Jun97 - 10:18 Windies wallop world One-day champs... Sri Lanka tamed By GARTH WATTLEY Report from The Trinidad Express THE cricketing "Lions" from Sri Lanka are not having happy hunting on their Caribbean sojurn. They were jabbed in the side by Shell/Sandals champions Trinidad and Tobago in their opening One-day tour match on Wednesday. And yesterday at the Queen's Park Oval, West Indies dealt them another blow. In a rain-affected run-fest, Arjuna Ranatunga's world One-day champions came up 35 runs short. The one-off Cable and Wireless 50 overs encounter may not have been entirely unproductive for the tourists. But on the day, they lost to a Windies' side sufficiently inspired. Given the perfect thrust by "Man of the Match" Stuart Williams (91), Brian Lara (68) and their 124-run third wicket partnership, the home team amassed 283 for six in a match reduced to 49 overs. The Windies then drove home the advantage thanks to compelling opening spells from skipper Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose. So decisive was the fast, skilfully accurate stuff of the dynamic pace duo, that the "Lions" had lost two key men - Mavan Atapattu and Aravinda De Silva - by the sixth over for just 19. Worse, their "gunner" Sanath Jayasuriya was forced out of the attack at a critically early stage when a sharp one from Ambi forced him to retire after the first ball of the third over. His spectacular, dizzying, but too brief assault - 44 off 29 balls - kept the crowd excited. But it was not enough to keep his team alive. Not in the way Williams and Lara kept the Windies afloat, sailing even. When the pair came together at 46 for 2 in the tenth over, both care and courage were required. Having been sent in to bat by Ranatunga in difficult, overcast conditions, the pair had to repair the damage done by the early dismissals of pinch hitters Junior Murray (2) and Franklyn Rose (7). But in pleasing fashion, the pair got on with the job. Williams, for the second time this season, treated the Oval crowd to an innings of fine syle. His maiden Test century still fresh in the minds of the fans, Williams gave them more to savour with his third consecutive One-day half century. Complementing his sweet timing with expert placement, the Nevisian, frequently found the gaps in the field, especially for his 12 boundaries. The two he placed either side of the man on the midwicket fence shortly before he fell, were gems. By the time he carelessly put Jayasuriya into Dulip Liyanage's hands at long-off, nine short of his first ODI ton, Lara had already gone. But he did not go quietly. Prepared to let Williams have his head for most of the 22 overs of their stand, he exploded right at the end. In the 31st over, Muttiah Muralitharan was struck for two flowing, on-driven sixes and a crunching straight drive for four that long-off could not stop. But attempting to give Kumara Dharmasena a similar dose of "salts," next over he holed out to long-on, having got his 68 in as many balls. Williams and Lara went within three overs of each other. But Roland Holder's valuable late-order 40 ensured the momentum was not lost entirely. Two hundred and eighty-four was a tough target, even for the Sri Lankan daredevils. And once Walsh removed Atapattu, caught flicking by Carl Hooper at short-midwicket, Sri Lanka's problems increased. The nasty Ambrose ball that struck Jayasuriya on the right hand from just short of a length did not help the cause. And when Ambi got De Silva to hang his bat at one outside off-stump, Hooper at second slip did the rest-19 for 2. Skipper De Silva with a stabilising 53 (one six, six fours) kept the innings going. But the Lions only really looked like roaring when "Jaya" came back. The Oval folks will not soon forget the 27 runs he slammed in just eight balls. Rose will not forget either. Seventeen of them came in his first over. A couple overs more, and the Sri Lankan blitzer, already with five wickets from his left-arm spin, might have snatched the Man of the Match prize from Williams, if not the match from the Windies. But on 44, he lashed at Laurie Williams once too often and Stuart took the catch. Dharmasena (51 not out) and Lyanage (43) kept the champs going. But hopes of victory had long gone. Even as the Trini Posse celebrated the win and debutant Dinanath Ramnarine's first two wickets in international cricket, the champs were licking their wounds. In their quest for Test success, this will be a minor abrasion for Sri Lanka. But Walsh's men will hope that is the beginning of what will become a much deeper incision come Test time. Source :: The Trinidad Express (http://www.trinidad.net/express/) Report from the Daily News Windies turn the tables - beat Lanka by 35 runs Sa'adi Thawfeeq reporting from the Caribbean PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad, June 6 - BEING WORLD champions means everyone wants to beat you. Weren't West Indies over the moon when they beat Sri Lanka by 35 runs in the one-off one-day international played at Queen's Park Oval here today. Coincidentally, it was by the same margin that Sri Lanka won their only one-day international played at the same venue last year, when they came on the invitation of the Queen's Park CC to mark the 100th anniversary of the Queen's Park Oval. The West Indies were able to reverse the result largely in their favour was principally due to the third-wicket partnership of 124 off 131 balls between the indomitable Stuart Williams and the resplendence of Brian Lara. The two laid the foundation for a formidable West Indies total of 283 for 7 off 49 overs - an amount Sri Lanka were unable to match, despite their great depth of batting. Sri Lanka eventually finished on 248 for 8 off 49 overs. The match brought out the stark reality of what Sri Lanka will be up against in the two Tests against the West Indies. With their rather limited bowling attack in the absence of Chaminda Vaas, Sri Lanka are really going to find it tough bowling out the West Indies. Only off-spinner Muthiah Muralitharan remains as some sort of a threat to West Indies. And it was not surprising that Lara, as if on premonition tried to hit him off the attack taking 18 off his seventh over, which included two sixes and a four. Lara made 68 runs off as many balls, hitting two sixes and six fours before becoming the first of five victims of left-arm spinner Sanath Jayasuriya. Williams looked well in sight of his maiden one-day hundred when he lofted Jayasuriya to long-off where Dulip Liyanage held on to the catch. Second time Jayasuriya with figures of 5 for 59 off 10 overs, at least ensured that West Indies did not top the 300-run mark, a figure that loomed as a possibility during the Williams-Lara partnership. It was Jayasuriya's second five-wicket haul in the one-day game. He already holds the best figures in this type of cricket for his country with 6 for 29 against England at Moratuwa in 1992-93. Sri Lanka's decision to send West Indies in first after winning the toss was justified only until the 10th over, when they captured the wickets of Junior Murray and Franklyn Rose, before either had entered double figures. But after that it was more of a one-way traffic. Sri Lanka challenging the West Indies total largely depended on the start Jayasuriya and Marvan Atapattu could provide. Both were unsettled by the extreme bounce that Curtley Ambrose and skipper Courtney Walsh extracted out of the rather docile wicket. Atapattu departed in the second over for one, putting up a simple catch to Carl Hooper at short mid-wicket. Jayasuriya was forced to retire hurt at seven after being hit on the right finger by Ambrose. Out of place Aravinda de Silva looked totally out of place after being laid low by `flu and made only seven before top-edging a catch to Hooper at second slip to give Ambrose his 200th wicket in one-day internationals. The tall and gangling fast bowler became the first West Indian to take 200 wickets in overs-limit cricket and the fifth overall after Wasim Akram, Kapil Dev, Waqar Younis and Craig McDermott. Jayasuriya returned at the fall of Hashan Tillekeratne's wicket at 39 for 3 in the 12th over to resume his innings. He launched himself on the attack, and the next five overs produced 50 runs. For a brief moment it looked as if the game would be suddenly transformed. But like it had started, the ending too was abrupt. Jayasuriya's 28-ball cameo for 44 runs (1 six, 7 fours) ended, when he was caught at deep mid-wicket by Stuart Williams. With Jayasuriya's departure ended Sri Lanka's hopes of making any threat to the West Indian total, although skipper Arjuna Ranatunga with 53 off 78 balls (1 six, 6 fours) and a record eighth wicket stand of 91 off 102 balls between Kumara Dharmasena and Dulip Liyanage, kept West Indies on their toes until the dying stages of the game when the result became conclusive. Dharmasena completed his third one-day fifty off 55 balls (5 fours) and Liyanage made his highest score - 43 off 63 balls (2 fours) as they improved on the previous record of 56 held by Ravi Ratnayeke and Somachandra de Silva against New Zealand at Napier in 1982-83. Source :: Daily News (http://www.lanka.net) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)