Sri Lankan Board XI v West Indies - 3 day First Class match 1991/2 - Sri Lankan Board XI 2nd Innings, West Indies 2nd Innings

Sri Lankan Board XI v West Indies - 3 day First Class match 1991/2 - P.Saravanamattu Stadium, Colombo

Needing quick runs to set up a declaration, the home side's openers again blunted the West Indies pace attack and set up an excellent platform.
With Dulip Samaraweera making a stroke filled unbeaten 61*, captain Arjuna Ranatunga was able to declare at 106/1, and set West Indies 183 to win in roughly 55 overs weather permitting.
It was an aggressive declaration by the dumped former Sri Lankan captain, and many other captains would have been less cautious.
But sensing the dominance of his spinners over the West Indies batsmen under these conditions in the 1st innings, and that now conditions were in even more favour of spin, he felt emboldened to declare about 20 runs short of when most might have.
Vaas removed Haynes early, and this allowed Ranatunga the indulgence of keeping his seamers on for the selectors to have a better look, despite Sajeewa de Silva going for 44 from just 6 overs.
With Simmons and Richardson powering along at 5 an over, Ranatunga's declaration and tactics were looking reckless in the extreme.
So confident was Ranatunga in the control his spinners would give him when he eventually brought them on, that he even indulged in an over of his own part time medium pace.
When he did turn to his spinners, they had immediate success.
Both Simmons and Richardson perished in the 40's, and the fragile middle order was no match for the Sri Lankan Board XI spinners on what had now become a Spinners Paradise.
Lambert hung around a while to make a vital 30, and when a shower and bad light brought play to an and with 15 overs left unbowled, West Indies had him and the fading light to thank for escaping with a draw.
Finishing at 142/8 after 40 overs, Ranatunga was probably left cursing the fact he had left his spinners out of the attack for so long.
But really, it was the weather that denied the home team in the end, not their captains tactics, when it was his enterprise that had set up such a competitive declaration in the first place.
Man of the Match was Sri Lankan Board XI allrounder Ruwan Kalpage, who took 7-44 for the match, and was a challenge for all the batsmen in the spinning conditions.

Match Drawn

Man of the Match: R.S.Kalpage

Sri Lankan Board XI 2nd Innings 106/1 Declared (Overs 33)

Batsman	Fieldsman	Bowler	Runs	Min	Bls	4s	6s
D Ranatunga	c CA Best	b RA Harper	37	107	74	2	0
DP Samaraweera	not out		61	145	106	5	1
S Ranatunga	not out		4	36	21	0	0
A Ranatunga*	dnb
RP Arnold	dnb
AGD Wickremasinghe+	dnb
RS Kalpage	dnb
UDU Chandana	dnb
HDPK Dharmasena	dnb
WPUJC Vaas	dnb
KSC de Silva	dnb
extras		(b0 lb1 w2 nb1)	4
TOTAL		1 wickets for	106

FOW
1-69(D Ranatunga)

Bowler	Overs	Maid	Runs	Wkts
MD Marshall	7	2	13	0
BP Patterson	6	0	30	0
CA Walsh	7	3	19	0
PV Simmons	4	2	7	0
RA Harper	6	0	23	1
CA Best	2	0	11	0
CB Lambert	1	0	2	0

West Indies 2nd Innings 142/8 Closed (Overs 40)

Batsman	Fieldsman	Bowler	Runs	Min	Bls	4s	6s
DL Haynes	c AGD Wickremasinghe	b WPUJC Vaas	6	10	8	1	0
PV Simmons		b UDU Chandana	43	63	47	5	0
RB Richardson*	c RP Arnold	b HDPK Dharmasena	46	87	64	4	1
AL Logie		b UDU Chandana	0	3	2	0	0
CA Best	c UDU Chandana	b RS Kalpage	4	4	4	1	0
CB Lambert		b RS Kalpage	30	76	67	2	0
JR Murray		b RP Arnold	3	15	16	0	0
RA Harper	c S Ranatunga	b RP Arnold	2	10	8	0	0
MD Marshall	not out		6	22	24	0	0
BP Patterson	not out		0	1	1	0	0
CA Walsh	dnb
extras		(b1 lb0 w0 nb1)	2
TOTAL		8 wickets for	142

FOW
1-12(DL Haynes) 2-81(PV Simmons) 3-81(AL Logie) 4-86(CA Best) 5-112(RB Richardson)
6-117(JR Murray) 7-129(RA Harper) 8-142(CB Lambert)

Bowler	Overs	Maid	Runs	Wkts
WPUJC Vaas	7	1	26	1
KSC de Silva	6	0	44	0
A Ranatunga	1	0	5	0
HDPK Dharmasena	6	3	10	1
UDU Chandana	7	1	32	2
RS Kalpage	6	2	16	2
RP Arnold	7	3	8	2

Sri Lankan Board XI opener Dulip Samaraweera made an unbeaten 61* in the 2nd Innings