Historic victory to Sri Lanka

Press, 21 October 1989, Page 19

Historic victory to Sri Lanka

NZPA-Reuter RRajkot, India Asanka Gurusinghe guided Sri Lanka to its first one-day cricket win over West Indies with a steady 66 in the Nehru Cup tournament on Thursday. Sri Lanka’s upset fourwicket win was also the fourth straight defeat for the West Indians in one-day internationals after its dismal showing in the Sharjah Cup tournament during the last week.

Only Gus Logie and the opener, Desmond Haynes, batted with any confidence as West Indies collapsed on a slow pitch to 176 for nine in its 50 overs. Sri Lanka completed victory at 180 for six with 17 deliveries to spare. Sent in to bat, West Indies was in trouble from the start, losing two wickets for 20 before Haynes and the captain, Viv Richards, steadied the innings. But with the score on 83, Richards lost his off-stump to a ball that moved back sharply from the paceman, Kapila Wijegunawardena, to be out for 24. Three runs later Haynes fell for 42 and familiar signs of panic set in among the West Indies batsmen.

Apart from Logie, who was unbeaten on 54 at the close of the innings, none of the batsmen offered any resis-

tance. Sri Lanka appeared to be faring no better when it lost its first three wickets for 45 but Gurusinghe anchored the recovery. His fifth-wicket stand of 66 with the captain, Arjuna Ranatunga, proved to be the turning point and the West Indies bowlers appeared to lose heart.

Gurusinghe was bowled by Winston Benjamin and Ranatunga fell to Curtly Ambrose for 34, brilliantly caught by Richards. But Athula Samarasekera and Hashan Tiilekeratne added the further runs needed in an unbeaten seventh wicket stand.

• The opener, Wayne Larkins, cracked a superb century as England strode to a seven-wicket victory over Australia in their Nehru Cup one-day match.

After Australia made 242 for three in its 50 overs, Larkins carved out England’s second successive win in the six-nation tournament with 124 runs from 126 balls as it reached 243 for three with 15 deliveries to spare. Larkins, whose previous highest score in one-day internationals was 34, dominated an opening stand of 185 with the man who had insisted on his presence in the squad, the captain, Graham

Gooch. "I told Ted Dexter (chairman of the England selectors) that the presence of Larkins on Indian soil would be required as I consider him the best batsman in England today,” Gooch said after the match. Gooch made 56 before being trapped leg before, pushing forward to his Australian counterpart, Allan Border. He faced 89 balls and hit six fours. After Border won the toss and decided to bat, the match appeared to be going Australia’s way in spite of the loss of David Boon before a run had been scored. Border spurred his side to a formidable total with a personal example of enterprising batsmanship. Marsh (54) and Dean Jones (50) put on 108 for the second wicket and after they were dismissed Border struck an unbeaten 84 off only 44 balls. He hit five sixes, three in succession off the paceman, Gladstone Small, and eight fours, as 101 runs came in the last 10 overs.

“Winning the toss was my first mistake. The medium pacers of England bowled very well and the morning dew was doing a lot of tricks,” Border said afterwards.