Tony Becca

After losing the first Test match by 121 runs on a placid pitch outside Georgetown, the West Indies went to Port of Spain, and on a pitch with a generous covering of grass, a pitch which many believed was tailor-made for left-arm swing bowler Chaminda Vaas and for the tricky off-spinner Muttiah Muralitheran, a pitch which called for quality batting, they won by six wickets to share the two-match series.

One swallow, it has long been said, does not make a summer, and the West Indies are still a long way from the standard which will move them up the ladder, much more make them comparable to their glory days.

It was, however, a wonderful performance, hats off to everyone, and more so to fast bowlers Jerome Taylor and Fidel Edwards, batsmen Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

Always on top

After winning the toss and deciding to field, after Sri Lanka had rushed to 62 without loss after 15 overs, Edwards, the fastest of the West Indies bowlers, struck, and although West Indians had their fingers crossed throughout the contest, while hoping and praying that their team would not fold, the West Indies were always on top.

Edwards, the man with the slinging action, bowled well, Daren Powell was good at times, and Taylor, the man who produced a real beauty to clip Mahela Jayawardene's off-stump in the first innings, was simply magnificent.

After failing in the first three innings of the series, Chanderpaul was like the rock of Gibraltar, while scoring 86 not out after going to bat at 73 for three. Sarwan, after scores of 80, 72, and 57 in the previous three innings of the contest, the man of the series, said goodbye with a classic man of the match innings of 102.

Simply magnificent

The pair, a left-hander and a right-hander, was simply magnificent as they systematically blunted the attack of Vaas and Muralitheran and flayed the support bowlers while sharing a match-winning partnership of 157 in 42 overs.

It was batting, Test match batting, at its best, and based on the pitch, on the skill of Vaas and Muralitheran, and on how much the team depended on him in their hunt for victory, it was certainly Sarwan at his best - no question about that.

The West Indies did drop a few catches, but, led by wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin throughout the match, and then by Taylor and Marlon Samuels in Sri Lanka's second innings, they were brilliant at times.

All in all, led by their two fastest bowlers - including one of them, Taylor, who is their best bowler, and, all things considered, it was a lovely effort by the West Indies.

The West Indies, like Sri Lanka, fought all the way, and they truly deserved victory at the end of a close and memorable contest.

Set 253 for victory, not many believed the West Indies would have won the match. At one time, with the West Indies stuttering at 73 for three when Chanderpaul joined Sarwan, not many gave the West Indies a chance on that Queen's Park Oval pitch against Vaas and Muralitheran, and to have pulled it off, after losing only one more wicket at that, was simply marvellous.

And, if the West Indies had played one more bowler and one less batsmen, if the West Indies attack had been Taylor, Powell, Edwards, and Sulieman Benn with Dwayne Bravo in support, it could, probably, have been easy.

On the skids

At one stage in their first innings, Sri Lanka were sliding at 117 for five in the 31st over. At one stage in their second innings, Sri Lanka were on the skids at 99 for six in the 25th over. In the first innings, they recovered to 222 before, in the 47th over, losing another wicket.

In the second innings, they recovered to 237 before, in the 66th over, losing another wicket. Although one will never know, it is quite possible that a spin bowler, one who really spins the ball, one like Dave Mohammed or Benn bowling on a pitch like that and taking over from a set of fast bowlers who were probably getting tired, would have picked up a wicket, or even two, on one or both occasions, and set up the West Indies for an easy victory.

West Indies middle order batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan pulls Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan to the boundary as he steered the West Indies to victory at Queen's Park Oval on Sunday. - photo by digicel