West Indies bowler Jermaine Lawson in action during the first Test against Sri Lanka in Colombo. - REUTERS
KANDY, Sri Lanka (CMC):
DESPITE AN official report questioning the legality of his bowling action, Jermaine Lawson is set to let fly again for the West Indies in the second and final Test of the series against Sri Lanka beginning tonight (Jamaica time) at the picturesque Asigirya Stadium.
The 24-year-old fast bowler picked up eight wickets - four in each innings - in the first Test at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo, where the hosts won by six wickets just after tea on the fourth day.
It was one of a few encouraging aspects of the Caribbean side's performance - particularly in the absence of most of their senior players, since they were expected to be mauled by a full-strength Sri Lanka side.
Lawson remains available for selection according to the Inter-national Cricket Council's (ICC) revised, and very complicated, process of dealing with questionable bowling actions.
It follows the decision by Pakistan to persist with Shabbir Ahmed for the second and final Test against the West Indies at Kingston last month, even though he was officially reported after the first Test a week earlier at Bridgetown.
ICC APPROVAL
Shabbir picked up eight wickets in Barbados, lifting his series tally to 13, and played a critical role in his team's comfortable victory.
Subsequent video analysis of his action in that match revealed a 27-degree bending and straightening of his bowling, considerably in excess of the 15-degree allowance now approved by the ICC.
Shabbir, who was reported twice before, is now suspended from international cricket until modification of his action.
It is unlikely that Lawson will be unduly perturbed by the prospect of a similar penalty in the coming weeks.
When he was first reported after taking seven wickets in the first innings of the fourth and final Test against Australia at St. John's two years ago, injury prevented him from bowling in the second innings, while the process of remodelling his action, and further injury setbacks kept him off the international scene until the 2004 tour of England.
WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY
This time around, courtesy of a bewildering convoluted procedure, he has a window of opportunity to again seek to undermine Sri Lanka's vaunted batting line-up, and in the upcoming tri-nation limited-over series with the hosts and India.
Lawson, however, was not the only one to emerge with credit from the first Test. Having dismissed the opposition for 227 in the first innings, and given them a fright at 49 for three in pursuit of a modest victory target of 172, there is much for the West Indies to build on in the second Test.
There was their almost flawless effort in the field, where a handful of superb catches, and the brilliance of debutant wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin gave an unexpected polish to what was generally expected to be a ragtag bunch of misfits.
Those positive aspects, however, could not compensate for the perennial bugbear of a second innings batting capitulation and the obvious technical deficiencies of a number of top-order batsmen.
Despite the resilience of Shivnarine Chanderpaul, it was too much to expect the West Indies captain to hold an innings together almost single-handedly against the threat of Sri Lanka's two most experienced bowlers.
