Sarwan joins the greats
Sat, Mar 14, '09
commentary by AUSTIN 'Dukes' WILSON
Ronnie Sarwan just had a fantastic test series against England, scoring 626 runs including 3 centuries and averaging 104.33.The only West Indian batsmen who have scored over 600 runs with at least 3 centuries and an average over 100 in a test series are the acknowledged West Indian greats Sobers, Richards, Weekes and Lara.
Many cricket connoisseurs have long opined that Sarwan has the capability of becoming a great player and have been disappointed in his career thus far. He emphatically showed that he intends to fulfill his vast potential and West Indian fans across the Diaspora let out a huge sigh of relief with the refrain what took you so long.
Ted Dexter, in his playing days as daring a batsman as you could meet, made the seemingly premature judgement that he would be a great player after watching his debut innings against Pakistan when the 19 year old Sarwan made a polished unbeaten 84. However pundits in his native Guyana had long predicted a successful test career when in an under 13 match he made a fluent century. Sarwan’s beautiful strokeplay and excellent footwork caught the eye of the WI selectors and he was soon off on many A team tours and he was given wide exposure on tours around the world as a teenager. Despite his enormous talent he struggled to rack up big scores though he always looked assured at the crease. Sarwan kept scoring heavily in age group cricket and scored a classy century for the WI Under 19 team against Pakistan Under 19 at the Mecca which was highly praised by Hayden Gill.
Sarwan’s breakthrough came in 2000 when in a President’s XI game against the visiting Zimbabwe team he scored a century in each innings. A classy knock against the visiting Pakistanis was to catapult him into the West Indies team a few weeks later.
Sarwan made a successful tour of England but tragedy struck late in the tour when his best friend died at age 19. He returned to Guyana for her burial and amazingly went back to England to complete the tour, sharing a promising stand with Brian Lara in the final test at the Oval just days after his sojourn from Guyana.
He would hit rock bottom in his next tour to Australia and it is testimony to the influence of his Guyana captain Carl Hooper who helped him get his confidence back so that he narrowly missed his maiden test century in his very first test against South Africa at his home ground Bourda.
Over the intervening years Sarwan has had significant highs such as his match winning century against Australia in the record breaking 4th innings run chase and his heroics in the World Cup in South Africa, but these have been interspersed with some serious challenges such as his frequent and depressingly unfortunate injuries in 2007 and of course the ignominy of being dropped for Runako Morton in Pakistan in 2006. An excellent series against Sri Lanka and a solid series against Australia was followed by a poor series in New Zealand and frustrated fans were thinking that his underachieving ways were continuing.
Sarwan’s ability has never been questioned. It was his resolve, discipline and concentration that some felt were letting him down. Free from injuries and any distractions regarding positions of authority in the team Sarwan put on a master class of batsmanship worthy of the greats that came before him. Other batsmen from other countries have scored extremely heavily in test cricket. Rahul Dravid and Jacques Kallis come to mind but Sarwan married colossal run scoring with elegant batsmanship that made the purists purr with delight. This was West Indian batsmanship at its zenith as the artist used his bat like a wand to bisect the field with searing cover drives and blistering cuts with a few on-drives thrown in for good measure. Centuries at Sabina Park and the ARG were separated by a top innings of 94 which ended with a Kanhaiesque attempt to get to his hundred with one stroke. The horror and remorse which were clearly plastered on his face suggests that it would be a very long time before he revisits such a terrible indiscretion. His 291 at the Mecca was an innings which signaled his entry into the top class of West Indian batting folklore.
At the age of 28 Ronnie Sarwan stands on the threshold of greatness. His fate and his destiny are in his hands and we can only hope that he goes from strength to strength because his fortunes will largely determine the immediate fate of West Indies cricket.
May he enjoy good health and many classic innings in the future.
GO DEH MAS RONNIE!
