Sarwan: 'The Century Is On My Mind'

West Indies batting prospect Ramnaresh Sarwan insists he is happy with his progress at Test level despite missing out once again on a maiden century.

The 21-year-old's score of 60 in the first innings of the Barbados Test was the 11th time he has passed 50 since making his debut as a teenager two years ago, but has so far been unable to convert any of them into a three figures.

"The century has been on my mind for a while and I keep getting reminded about it, but I don't want it to prey on me. I just want to concentrate on my batting and the runs will come," said Sarwan, who was caught at gully as he attempted to drive left-arm seamer Ashish Nehra.

"I'll take the 60 because I helped the team do well.

"I would say the main reason for my getting out is lack of concentration, coupled with bad shot selection at times. I seem to be scoring a lot of my runs straight down the wicket early, but in the latter part of my innings I start to hit the ball a lot squarer. That could be one of the reasons for my downfall."

Sarwan's situation is similar to that of fellow Guyanese Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who made 13 half centuries before finally scoring 137 not out against India in his 19th Test appearance.

The current game is Sarwan's 20th Test and although a hundred continues to elude him, he is developing the art of consistency.

Since the start of the year, his Test scores have been 88, 30, 17, 48, 69, 66, 53, 35, 41 and 60 - 507 runs at an average of 50.7.

"I'm pretty pleased about the way I'm batting right now. I hope sometime during the season I'll be able to convert one of those fifties into a hundred," he added.

* SOURCE: BBC Sports Online.