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JAYAWARDENE
SAYS WINDIES PLAYED INTO SRI LANKA’S GAME PLAN -
following their first ever win on West Indian soil.
Date Posted: March 27, 2008.
PROVIDENCE,
GUYANA – Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene said that the
West Indian strategy of being positive rather than being
defensive played right into his team’s game plan in the
First Digicel Test match at the Guyana National Stadium. He
spoke on Wednesday, following the completion of Sri
Lanka's first ever Test victory on West Indian soil.
Sri Lanka 476 for 8 declared and 240 for 7 declared beat
West Indies 280 and 315 (Bravo 83, Sarwan 72, Gayle
51*, Vaas 5-61) by 121 runs.
“We wanted them to play a few shots on this wicket because
that’s how we could have created opportunities. That’s why
we gave them a target (437) they could have achieved rather
than giving them 500 when they would have been in a very
defensive frame of mind. We gave them a target thinking this
is a target they could chase especially since they have
shotmakers,” Jayawardene said at the post game press
conference after he led his team to their historic first
Test victory in the Caribbean.
“The way they (Dwayne Bravo and Ramnaresh Sarwan) batted
yesterday(end of the fourth day) was good, they took some
chances and it paid off for them, that’s the way they bat,”
the 30 year old said.
“We had a challenge when we came and that was to win a Test
match in the West Indies and we have achieved that. We
played hard, a lot of guys contributed. (Vaas’ was an)
amazing effort and our quicks (fast bowlers) took 13 wickets
in the Test match so a lot of credit (must go) to them.
Murali (Muttiah Muralitharan) bowled his heart out. Overall
it was a very good team effort,” declared Jayawardene whose
Sri Lanka team beat the West Indies by 121 runs with a mere
16 minutes left on the final day.
The right handed batsman who scored a century in the Sri
Lankan first innings said that when top scorer Dwayne Bravo
(83) and vice captain Ramnaresh Sarwan (72) were at the
wicket he knew patience was the key.
“Yesterday (last hour of fourth day) their attitude was
totally different in the way they approached it and we knew
that we were up against a good challenge, Bravo and Ronnie (Sarwan)
both batted really well and we had to be very patient with
those two guys, make sure that we don’t give them too many
easy runs, wait for our opportunity which we did and once we
got that breakthrough, we picked up a few more wickets, then
we know we could put pressure on the (other batsmen),”
Jayawardene explained.
“If they (Bravo and Sarwan) had batted til about tea time it
would have been a different story, we would have struggled,
we managed to get Bravo before lunch and then Ronnie before
tea which were two crucial wickets and in between we got
Shiv (Chanderpaul) which was an important wicket for us,” he
added.
“Even though Chris was at one end we knew we could put
pressure on the other batsmen and see what would happen and
our guys bowled really well to pick up those wickets. At the
end, in the last hour it could have been anyone’s game in
the sense that they could have saved the game or we could
have gotten the win so once we got into that situation we
knew we had to give everything we got and see whether we
could win because for four and a half days we put in a lot
of effort to see if we could create this opportunity and we
could not let it go just like that,” Jayawardene explained.
The Sri Lankan captain said the team’s plan was to allow
themselves a minimum of 110 overs to get all 10 West Indian
wickets in the second innings in order to secure the
victory.
“For us it was important that we had anything over 110 overs
to bowl at them, that was our target and anything over 400
(runs), that was something that we were going to set them.
We got 436 which was more than we wanted and we still had
more than 110 overs,” he explained of his second innings
declaration at 240 for 7.
He further admitted that the positive manner in which Bravo
and Sarwan batted in the last hour of the fourth day put his
team under some amount of pressure but that he was happy
with the way his teammates recovered on the fifth day.
“We were under pressure last night but we came back strong
this morning and once we picked up those wickets we knew
that we could put pressure on them,” he said.
And asked if he will encourage his team to relax and play
for a draw in order to secure a 1-0 series victory in the
two match Digicel Test Series, the Sri Lankan captain said
it is not their style.
“It’s important that we go for a win in the second match as
well, that’s the way we play cricket, we want to win every
Test match we play. That’s the attitude whether it is home
or away. That has served us very well in the last five to
six years, that’s why we’ve been winning Test matches away
from home and we won’t go away from that attitude,”
Jayawardene warned.
The Second Digicel Test begins April 3rd at the Queen’s Park
Oval in Trinidad and Tobago.
PROVIDENCE,
GUYANA – Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene said that the
West Indian strategy of being positive rather than being
defensive played right into his team’s game plan in the
First Digicel Test match at the Guyana National Stadium. He
spoke on Wednesday, following the completion of Sri
Lanka's first ever Test victory on West Indian soil.
Sri Lanka 476 for 8 declared and 240 for 7 declared beat
West Indies 280 and 315 (Bravo 83, Sarwan 72, Gayle
51*, Vaas 5-61) by 121 runs. 