'Fill your boots' Windies pay price
At the end of the second day's play of the First Digicel Test West Indies captain Chris Gayle who had just fallen for a duck encouraged his batsmen to "fill their boots on what is really a flat pitch."
His opposite number, Mahela Jayawardene, who had completed his 22nd Test century that day warned that to score runs on the pitch "you have to be very patient," that it is "difficult to play shots" on it and that you have "to have a game plan."
It was cruel that the 27 year old right hander, playing on his home ground, did not go on to make a century as that would have been justly deserved following his diligent application throughout his innings when he countered the spin of genius off spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, not with ease, but with assured effectiveness. Later Sarwan said he never "felt in" against the world record holder, that he tried to play him as straight as possible and that he played with the spin when he saw which way it was turning. Clear indications that he had a plan similar to what Jayawardene advocated.
It was by no means a case of filling one's boots. The West Indies scorecard tells the tale – Gayle 0, Devon Smith 14, Marlon Samuels 5, Dwayne Bravo 8. That their last pair, Jerome Taylor on 22 and Daren Powell on 6 are desperately fighting to stave off the follow on is further testimony.
The other two batsmen who showed application, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ryan Hinds, spent just over a combined three hours at the crease. It was not even marginally enough as the Windies chased Sri Lanka’s 476 for 8 declared.
Chanderpaul, routinely masterful in his occupation of the crease and prolific in his run scoring particularly in recent times, batted for 66 minutes and had gotten himself a start on a wicket where three weeks prior he had hit a double century in a first class game.
The 33 year old left hander’s only error of judgment brought his demise and he was so furious with himself that he...
Read the rest of this article at DigicelCricket.com