Williams steers Windies 'A'- 289/2
Match referee in attendance
West Indies 'A' very much in a happy frame of mind after the appointment of a match referee for the third and final 4-day unofficial Test, ended the first day strongly placed on 289 for two wickets at the Uyanwatte Stadium yesterday.
Certain incidents on the field involving the Sri Lanka 'A' players forced the Sri Lanka Cricket Board to appoint a match referee for this 'Test'.
PLEASANT SURPRISE
It was a pleasant surprise to see former Sri Lanka fast bowler Saliya Ahangama fit into this role.
As reported yesterday, the West Indies 'A' were unhappy with the umpiring on the tour. A meeting was held between the officials of the two teams and Sri Lanka Cricket Board chief executive Dammika Ranatunga, after which, it was decided that match referees be appointed for the rest of the tour.
Following the current Test, West Indies 'A' have a series of three one-day internationals against Sri Lanka 'A'.
Former West Indies opener Stuart Williams played the sheet anchor role to steer West Indies 'A' to a powerful position on the first day.
UNBEATEN
The 27-year-old right-hander batted throughout the day to remain unbeaten on 158 which was scored off 296 balls with the aid of 14 fours. Williams' who reached his century off 184 balls in 238 minutes (9 fours) was a model of concentration during his 367 minutes at the crease. His innings was chanceless and with Floyd Reifer, he put on 136 for the second wicket in 176 minutes.
The West Indian domination of the innings was continued by acting captain David Joseph (29) who has so far added 77 runs in an unfinished stand for the third wicket. Joseph profiting from a stumping chance at 28.
Off-spinner Ruwan Kalpage, the most successful bowler for Sri Lanka 'A', was given two spells, and in each of them, picked up a wicket to finish the day with figures of 2 for 70 off 31 overs.
Bother his wickets were obtained with the batsmen chancing their arm against him.
BIG HITTING
The big-hitting Philo Wallace was caught at long-on by Waragoda for 31, and Reifer was held at long-off by Wickremasinghe for 60 scored off 118 balls with six fours.
====> Day 2 (21 Nov 1996)
West Indies 'A' pile on the runs against Sri Lanka
Wicket-keeper and left-hand batsman Ridley Jacobs, four days away from his 29th birthday joined Leeward Islands team mate Stuart Williams by scoring a century, as West Indies 'A' piled on the runs against Sri Lanka 'A' in the third and final 4-day unofficial cricket Test played at the Uyanwatte Stadium yesterday.
While the 27-year-old right-hander, Williams made a career best 170, Jacobs scored exactly 100 not out, after which West Indies 'A' declared at a massive 523 for 9.
BAD LIGHT
By stumps on the second day, West Indies 'A' had Sri Lanka 'A' on the back foot at 17 for two wickets before, bad light came to their aid with seven overs of the day remaining.
Sri Lanka 'A' require to reach a total of 373 to avoid being asked to follow-on. It is a total they have not reached in the series so far - the highest being 287 at the SSC. From the way they have gone about tackling the West Indies 'A' fast and slow bowlers, getting to that total will require a major and disciplined batting effort on a pitch which is still in favour of the batsmen.
POOR SHOTS
Both wickets which Sri Lanka 'A' lost yesterday were to poor shots - Duleep Samaraweera attempting to hook Francis and sending the ball down long leg's throat, and Russel Arnold, aiming a drive at Cuffy and edging the ball to second slip.
West Indies resuming at 289 for 2, continued to frustrate the Sri Lankan bowlers as well the top order batsmen got runs.
Top scorer, Williams batted the longest for 402 minutes and faced 314 balls in surpassing his previous highest first-class score of 165 against Barbados in 1996. He hit 17 fours, and although he added only 12 runs to his overnight score of 158, he set the trend for the rest of the batsmen to follow.
BOTTOM HALF
With David Joseph (43), Williams added 103 for the third wicket. After Pramodya Wickremasinghe had dismissed both batsmen within the space of nine runs of each other with the second new ball, Jacobs held the bottom half of the West Indies batting with useful stands of 85 for the fifth wicket with Tony Powell (47) and 53 for the eighth with Avinesh Samaroo (14).
Despite these partnerships, Jacobs had to rely on last man Cameron Cuffy to get to his century. When the ninth wicket fell, Jacobs was on 86. He went to his hundred by first, hitting a six off leg-spinner Nimesh Perera and then, being given a bonus of five runs to move from 95 to 100 by courtesy of Pushpakumara, whose aim at the striker's end as the batsmen scrambled for a sharp single, went for four overthrows.
Jacobs batted 232 minutes and faced 171 balls in his chanceless innings which comprised two sixes and seven fours.
====> Day 3 (22 Nov 1996)
To save final unofficial Test: Sri Lanka 'A' face uphill task
Sri Lanka 'A' faced a uphill task of saving the third and final unofficial Test against West Indies 'A' when they ended the penultimate day on 118 for two wickets after being forced to follow-on at the Uyanwatte Stadium Friday.
Shot out for a paltry 108 runs in the first innings in reply to West Indies 'A's mammoth total of 523 for 9 declared, Sri Lanka 'A' lost the wickets of Russel Arnold (1) and Naveed Nawaz (38) to go into the fourth and final day today, requiring a further 297 runs to avoid an innings defeat and prevent West Indies 'A' from making a clean sweep of the three-'Test' series.
Sri Lanka have eight wickets in hand and the whole of today (90 overs) to save the Test.
At the wickets are two batsmen who are capable of ensuing Sri Lanka 'A' reach a position of safety. Skipper Marvan Atapattu is unbeaten on 26, having benefitted from a bat/pad chance to Philo Wallace at short-leg off Cuffy at 17. With him is the obdurate Duleep Samaraweera, who has batted the length of the Sri Lanka 'A' second innings of 204 minutes for an undefeated 41.
Cuffy, as has become customary in the series, achieved the initial breakthrough by getting rid of left-hander Arnold for the fourth time in the series - caught in the slips.
Another left-hander, Nawaz displayed some crisp shots, cracking a six off leg-spinner Rawl Lewis and five fours, before the bowler had his revenge by having him caught at extra cover for 38.
Nawaz had also impressed in the first innings by top scoring with 44 made in 162 minutes with the aid of five fours. He and Lanka de Silva (20) were the only batsmen to get into double figures when the rest of the batting represented a sorry spectacle against accurate fast bowling.
For once, Nigel Francis took the bowling honours returning figures of 4 for 32, while Cuffy and Lewis shared four between them.
Sri Lanka 'A' resuming at 17 for 2 were reduced to 79 for 6 at lunch before being dismissed, 43 minutes after resumption for 108.
====> Day 4 (23 Nov 1996)
West Indies 'A' vs Sri Lanka 'A': Windies win series 2-nil
Heavy rain washed out the fourth and final day's play of the third and final 4-day unofficial cricket Test between Sri Lanka 'A' and West Indies 'A' at the Uyanwatte Stadium Saturday.
Overnight rain had already put back the start of the final day by affecting the bowlers' run up and batsman's take-off areas, with water seeping under the covers.
The final nail in the coffin was driven when a heavy shower rained down on the grounds at 12.30 p.m.
There was not much anyone could do after that deluge which left the entire outfield submerged with water. Umpires Udaya Wickremasinghe and Ignatius Anandappa called off the match soon afterwards, to allow Sri Lanka 'A' to escape with a draw.
Sri Lanka 'A' had finished the third day on 118 for 2, needing another 297 runs to avoid an innings defeat. West Indies 'a' made 523 for 9 declared and dismissed Sri Lanka 'A' for 108 in the first innings.
Naturally, the result was disappointing to West Indies 'A' skipper Roger Harper who was looking forward to wrap up the match and make a clean sweep of the 'Test' series. West Indies 'A' eventually won the 'rubber' 2_0 (with one drawn), having won by 10 wickets at Kurunegala and by 69 runs at the SSC.
''The rain was rather disappointing especially when we had a chance of making a clean sweep of the 'Test' series. Butt that's life,'' said Harper.
''I am quite satisfied the way my team played and performed. We surprised a lot of people the way we played in the 'Test' matches, because in the couple of warm-up games we had, it didn't look as though we would have been able to do this well,'' said Harper.
''It took us a little time to get attuned to conditions here, the players, and the way we should approach the game. We adjusted and we showed in the Test matches,'' said Harper.
''The series has proved that we have strength and depth in the West Indies. We played some good cricket here and we are happy at the way thing have gone so far for us,'' he said.
Harper praised the batting of opener Stuart Williams, whom he said ''batted magnificently by applying himself and showing what a class player he can be'' for his innings of 170, and also Ridley Jacobs, whom he said ''played very well'' for his unbeaten 100.
The West indies 'A' fast bowlers and spinners had an almost equal share of success in the series. The fastmen claimed 24 wickets and the spinners, 26 wickets.
''Lots of people think the West Indies only has fast bowlers. We showed we have some spinners as well, who are quite capable of bowling team's out. I think that augurs well for the future,'' said Harper, whose ambition is to get into the West Indies side.
''I've been around for a while. We'll see what happens,'' said 33-year-old Harper.
Sri Lanka 'A' captain Marvan Atapattu blamed the batting and the inability of his bowlers to bowl on one side of the wicket for their defeat in the series.
''Our batting didn't click. It was changing all the time as the selectors were trying to give everyone a chance to prove themselves,'' said Atapattu.
''We should have stuck to one line, rather than bowl all over the place. That's where we went wrong,'' said Atapattu.
''The West Indies were a great side and more experienced than ours. They play much competitive cricket than we play here. So, bowling at a side like theirs, we should stick to one line,'' he said.
''I don't think any of our batsmen wanted to stay in the middle and play a long innings. They were always on the look out for runs and in this kind of game, you don't get many loose balls as you get in our domestic tournaments,'' said Atapattu.
The Sri Lanka 'A' captain said that he was batting with a lot of confidence now, and added the turning point of his recent success with the bat was at Kurunegala when he made a hundred against the West Indies 'A'.
Both teams will now play a series of three one-day 'internationals' starting with the first one at Moratuwa on Wednesday.
The match referees for the three games are: Ashantha de Mel, (1st ODI at Moratuwa on Nov. 27), Sidath Wettimuny (2nd ODI at Sara Stadium, on Feb. 29) and Saliya Ahangama (3rd ODI at SSC on Dec. 01).