Anguilla News covers Anguilla and the wider
Caribbean.
x
MANY
RECORDS FOR THE TAKING DURING DIGICEL ODI SERIES
Date Posted: April 08, 2008.
PORT OF SPRAIN, TRINIDAD & TOBAGO - West Indies and Sri
Lanka have met 45 times since their first encounter in 1975
at Old Trafford during the Prudential World Cup. On that
occasion the West Indies decimated the Sri Lankan batting,
blowing them out for 86 with Bernard Julien taking 4 for 20
and Keith Boyce 3 for 22.
The West Indies won that match comfortably by nine wickets
with 39.2 overs to spare but it was not the lowest score
between the two teams, Sri Lanka were knocked over for 55 in
1986 by Courtney Walsh (5 for 1) while only two years ago
the Windies mustered only 80 in Mumbai during the ICC
Champion’s Trophy.
The West Indies went on to win another 23 matches against
Sri Lanka over the years, two did not produce results and
Sri Lanka won the other 19, including the last contest
between the two teams a year ago at the Guyana National
Stadium in Providence when Sri Lanka trashed the Windies by
113 runs in the Cricket World Cup encounter.
The two teams have played only six times in the Caribbean,
Sri Lanka winning four of those matches and Windies winning
the other two. The Queen’s Park Oval will host the first two
Digicel One Day Internationals on Thursday April 10 and
Saturday April 12 but the two teams have played at the venue
twice before, each winning one match.
In their only full One Day International Series in the
Caribbean in 2003, Sri Lanka won the three match encounter
2-1.
Unsurprisingly genius left hander Brian Lara has scored the
most runs between the two teams hitting 1122 runs from 25
innings at an average of 48.78 with two hundreds (169 & 116)
and nine fifties. Only one other batsman has scored two
hundreds and he is Hashan Tillakaratne (104 & 100). There
were 14 centuries in total with only Sri Lankan captain
Mahela Jayawardene scoring one of any player on either side
currently. It is a statistic the likes of the in form
Ramnaresh Sarwan, Windies captain Chris Gayle and Kumar
Sangakkara will want to improve on.
And here is another statistic that will surprise no one –
Muttiah Muralitharan has the most wickets in matches
involving the Windies and Sri Lanka. The champion off
spinner has bagged 32 wickets in 25 matches and that is even
without ever getting a five wicket haul. It speaks to his
consistency in taking wickets, not just against the Windies
but against all comers. Ottis Gibson, the current England
bowling coach is the only bowler to have taken two five
wicket hauls which he achieved in January of 1996 in
Australia during the Benson & Hedges World Series.
Muralitharan is being rested for this series but Chaminda
Vaas who has taken 25 wickets against the Windies is in the
squad. He is the third highest wicket taker for Sri Lanka
with Sanath Jayasuriya having bagged 29.
Former world record holder for the most Test wickets Walsh
is the leading West Indian bowler with 26 scalps inclusive
of those magical figures of 5 wickets for 1 run in Sharjah
22 years ago in 1986.
Farveez Maharoof, who is missing from this series due to
injury, has the best figures in an innings with his 6 for 14
taken in Mumbai India during the ICC Champions Trophy of
2006 when the West Indies rebounded and eventually reached
the finals but lost to Australia.
The home team has the highest score between the two with 360
for 4 in Karachi in 1987 when Sir Viv Richards cut loose
with an astonishing 181 and Desmond Haynes supported with
105. West Indies also hold the second best effort, tallying
333 for 7 in Sharjah in 1995 during the Singer Champions
Trophy. On that occasion it was Lara’s 169 which piloted the
team.
Sri Lanka’s highest score against the Windies is 329 in that
same match when they fell short of victory by four runs.
With the Digicel One Day International Series to commence on
Thursday expect fireworks and more records to crash.
For latest images, news reports, competitions and
information on the Digicel Home Series 2008, log on to
www.digicelcricket.com.
