da brwin： The West Indies preparations for the first Test against Sri Lanka next weekwere disrupted once again on the last day of their final practice match atMatara on Saturday
Charlie Austin10-Nov-2001The West Indies preparations for the first Test against Sri Lanka next weekwere disrupted once again on the last day of their final practice match atMatara on Saturday.This time, though, it wasn’t directly the fault of the weather, butbizarrely by a blocked drain that left a sizeable section of sectioncompletely submerged by water, following steady rains overnight.By the time the offending drain have been dug up and the water hog hadsucked off all the surface water, there was only time for a single sessionof play.During the 35 overs possible before bad light stopped play, the WestIndians, starting the day on 134-0, progressed smoothly to 241 for two, asChris Gayle (120) duly reached his century and Daren Ganga (54) completed apainstaking four-hour half century.Having added 24 runs to his overnight score (96 not out), Gayle gave up hiswicket to allow Ramnaresh Sarwan, who had scored just seven in Colombo andhas been given the responsibility of batting number three in Sri Lanka, aprecious chance to bat in the middle.Sarwan made good use of his opportunity to acclimitise and batted for nearlytwo hours, scoring 39 runs and hitting four boundaries before bad lightstopped play.Ganga continued his dour defiance of the previous day and contributed just37 runs to his 173 opening partnership with Gayle before he nicked adelivery from fast bowler Dinusha Fernando and was caught behind. It was asolid innings, but not a wholly convincing one. He was caught off a no ballon 33, whilst trying to pull, and again at second slip having made 37.With the sun setting and the game long shorn of any spice, Brian Lara turneddown the opportunity of middle practice after the fall of Ganga. Jacobs cameinto bat and was seven not out at the end.Both West Indies warm-up games have been disrupted. In Colombo only a singleday of play was possible in the opening three-day match and here, in Matara,93 overs have been lost.Coach Roger Harper, who had spent of the day inspecting the sodden outfield,admitted that the frequent interruptions have hampered the team’spreparations, but was satisfied with the outcome with what play there was."It’s not been ideal preparation for the Test series," he said. "There is nosubstitute for competitive match practice."Now is not the time to be worried about being under prepared," he warned."We have only had two and a half days practice, but that is the state we arein. We now have two days for nets and will make the most of it, to getourselves as ready as we can be."Quite a few of batsmen have spent time at the crease – Chris Gayle and Carl(Hooper) have scored hundreds, Ganga scored a fifty, Sarwan spent a coupleof hours in the middle here and both Brian (Lara) and Samuels had a run inthe first game – so although we haven’t played as much cricket as we wouldhave liked, we are happy with what transpired in the short time we had."The bowlers also had a good run out here and they acquitted themselvespretty well in intense heat and humidity and on a pretty good battingpitch."West Indies now travel to Galle and weather permitting they will practiceagain on Sunday and Monday, before the first Test on Tuesday.