by Rex Clementine
The two match Test series between Sri Lanka and the West Indies which started at St. Lucia on Friday is only the fourth Test series between the countries although the Sri Lankans have been playing Test cricket for two decades now. So far only six Tests have been played between the two nations and the West Indies remain responsible for this. Those who have held office at the cricket board in the years gone by claim that due to the stubbornness of the West Indian administrators tours to the Caribbean Islands or to the island weren’t possible.

No Test cricket between the West Indies and Sri Lanka meant that the Lankans had no privilege to see how Duleep Mendis or Roy Dias would have fared against the likes of Michael Holding, Andy Roberts and co. It took Sri Lanka 12 years to play a Test against the West Indies. That happened only in 1993 when a West Indian side led by Richie Richardson came down and that too was a one off Test series.

However, from thereon, Sri Lanka’s success in the Test arena and the introduction of the ICC Test Championship has ensured that regular Tests would be played between the teams. So far six Tests have been played with the Lankans winning three of them and West Indies winning a solitary Test. The interesting aspect in the Tests between the teams has been that both teams haven’t been able to taste victory away from home.

For Sri Lanka Arjuna Ranatunga has captained three Tests against the West Indies, but failed to win any. The others were captained by Sanath Jayasuriya and under him the side had a clean sweep of the Tests in 2001. Meanwhile, for the West Indies Richie Richardson had the honour of captaining the inaugural Test between the sides. Courtney Walsh functioned as the captain during the two Tests in the Caribbean Islands in 1997 and Carl Hooper led the side when they lost 0-3 in Sri Lanka. For Sri Lanka Jayasuriya and Muttiah Muralitharan have taken part in all the six Tests while Hooper and Brian Lara have done so for the West Indies.

Sri Lanka hosted the first Test between the countries in 1993 and the Lankan administrators surprisingly decided to play the Test at the De Soyza Stadium, Moratuwa (also known as Tyronne Fernando Stadium) while other established cricket centers of the country were overlooked. Tyronne Fernando, a strong member of the government then, was also the chief of country’s cricket at that stage. Incidentally, this was Sri Lanka’s 50th Test Match and the West Indies 300th.

Sadly, the Test ended in a draw due to constant interruptions due to bad weather and the poor draining system at the ground which delayed play further and the local media severely criticised the BCCSL’s decision to play the Test in Moratuwa. No play was possible on the first and the final days of the Test. For Sri Lanka, Duleep Saramaraweera made his Test debut. West Indies, meanwhile, still had legendary opening batsman Desmond Haynes playing for them. After winning the toss, Sri Lanka batted first and made 190 runs with Aravinda de Silva scoring a half-century. West Indies replied and ended up scoring 202 with Hooper making 62. Muralitharan picked up four wickets for 47 runs. The game didn’t proceed beyond the Sri Lankan second innings where the home team made 43 for two wickets and the first Test between the countries ended disappointingly.

The countries had to wait for another four years to play a Test and that happened in 1997. Antigua Recreation Ground hosted the Test. After put into bat, Sri Lanka struggled against the extra pace and bounce of Curtly Ambrose and were bowled out for 223 with Ambrose taking five wickets for 37 runs. Among his victims were Aravinda de Silva, Russell Arnold and Roshan Mahanama. Jayasuriya top scored with 85 and Ranatunga made 42. The West Indies struggled against Muralitharan and squandered the early advantage they had taken by dismissing the visitors for 223 when they were bowled out for 189. Lara was out for a duck off Ravindra Pushpakumara.

After gaining a lead of 34 runs in the first innings, Sri Lanka gave away the initiative when they were bowled out for a paltry 152 against some disciplined fast bowling by Ambrose, Walsh, Franklyn Rose and Ian Bishop. Ambrose once again troubled the Sri Lankan top order to a great extent and the visitors missed the services of Hashan Tillakaratne, who was sent home after fracturing his right hand in the first innings after being hit by a Walsh delivery. The West Indies chased a victory target of 187 and openers Stuart Williams and Sherwin Campbell ensured the West Indies would get home safely by putting up a massive 160 run opening partnership. Ambrose was declared man of the match as Sri Lanka squandered a fine chance to score a Test win in the Caribbean islands.

Then the teams moved to St. Vincent’s for the second Test and Sri Lanka nearly pulled through. Sri Lanka did two changes by bringing in Marvan Atapattu for out of form Russell Arnold and Sanjeeva Ranatunga for the injured Tillakaratne. The visitors did well to dismiss the hosts for 147 in their first innings with Pushpakumara capturing five for 41. Sri Lanka gained a lead of 75 runs when they made 222, thanks to a fine 90 from opener Jayasuriya. Hooper, who had made 81 in the West Indian first innings, captured five wickets for 26 runs. The determined West Indians, however, fought back in the second innings and made 343 setting Sri Lanka somewhat a tough target of 269 runs. Lara, who had made only six runs in three innings previously, struck form finally when he made 115.

But Sri Lanka batted with determination with senior batsmen Ranatunga and Aravinda de Silva setting an example to the younger ones to follow, but constant interruptions by rain took the focus away from the Lankans. At one stage, they were just 80 runs away from victory with seven wickets in hand. But with the dismissal of de Silva, Sri Lanka lost Romesh Kaluwitharana for two and Sanjeeva Ranatunga got run out for a duck with his elder brother on the other end and the visitors lost their way a bit and had to settle for a draw. Ranatunga made an unbeaten 72.

Sri Lanka not only squandered an opportunity to win a Test in the West Indies, they also came back home losing the series 0-1.

The most recent series between the teams was played in 2001 with Sri Lanka winning the series 3-0. Although the Carribeans lost the Tests, it was a remarkable series for Lara who destroyed the Sri Lankan attack. Even Muralitharan struggled to take his wicket. In the first Test in Galle, batting first, West Indies made a mammoth 448 with Lara top scoring with 178. Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas shared the 10 wickets among them. Sri Lanka replied with 590. Kumar Sangakkara top scored with 140 and Tillakaratne made an unbeaten 105 while Mahela Jayawardene was run out for 99. Although the game appeared to be going to end in a tame draw tight bowling from Muralitharan ensured that the West Indies would be restricted to just 141 leaving Sri Lanka a victory target of just six runs. Once again Lara top scored for the Caribbean with 40 runs. Muralitharan was the man of the match.

The teams then moved to the hill capital for the second Test. The visitors struggled against the prodigious spin of Muralitharan and this time they had to counter the accurate bowling of Chaminda Vaas, too. The poor umpiring in the game was criticised as there were questions over the decisions against Lara and Marlon Samuels. The West Indies were chasing a target of 322 to win the game in the fourth innings, but were bowled out for 190 giving Sri Lanka another easy win. Muralitharan had a match bag of 10 wickets and was declared the man of the match.

The teams returned to SSC for the third and final Test Match. Electing to bat first the West Indies ended up making 390 runs in the first innings with Lara scoring a fine 221. Vaas captured seven wickets. The support the rest of the West Indian batsmen provided Lara was very poor and Sri Lanka consolidated their position in the game when they amassed 627 runs in the first innings. Hashan Tillakaratne made an unbeaten 204. His first double hundred. The West Indies were 237 runs in arrears and were bowled out for 262 leaving Sri Lanka a victory target of 26. Lara made the third hundred of the tour when he scored 130 in the second innings. Vaas captured seven wickets leaving Sri Lanka to score just 26 runs for victory and the Lankans did that with ten wickets to spare. Vaas and Lara were declared Men of the Match while Lara was declared the Man of the Series.

Lara ended the series scoring 688 runs in just six innings and his average was 114:67. Muralitharan, too, had a fine series as he ended up with 24 wickets coming 22.33 apiece. But he was outdone by Vaas who took 26 wickets at 15:42.