England’s bid for a series-leveling victory over the West Indies ran into Ramnaresh Sarwan, who fashioned his third century of the series in the fourth Test on Saturday.
Sarwan defied the tourists for the entire day to hit an undefeated 184 — his 14th Test century — that carried the West Indies to 398 for five, replying to the visitors’ first innings total of 600 for six declared, when stumps were drawn on the third day at the Kensington Oval.
England snared four wickets on the day — all leg before wicket verdicts — and all but one steeped in controversy over the use of the experimental umpire decision review system. On the referrals, England successfully collected the scalps of Devon Smith for 55, Shivnarine Chanderpaul for 70 and Brendan Nash for 33, after they had all shared significant partnerships with Sarwan. England may have delighted in the removal of the three left-handers, but West Indies coach John Dyson and manager Omar Khan were so upset that they left the dressing room to discuss their concerns with ICC Match Referee Allan Hurst.
PHOTO :EPA
England failed to remove Sarwan and he reached his century from 160 balls when he drove off-spinner Graeme Swann to mid-on and scurried a single to a cacophony of noise from the near capacity crowd.
He shared four stands of 50 or more with Smith, Chanderpaul, Nash and Denesh Ramdin.
■S AFRICA V AUSTRALIA
AFP, JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA
Australia built a 297-run lead in their second innings when bad light and rain stopped play on day three of the first Test against South Africa at the Wanderers Stadium on Saturday.
The tourists reached 51 for one before the players left the field in the final session, staying off for 45 minutes until the umpires drew stumps 31 overs early. Debutant opener Phillip Hughes was 36 not out with Australia captain Ricky Ponting unbeaten on 1.
Pace bowler Morne Morkel struck early to have Simon Katich caught behind for 10 in the 12th over of the innings, breaking a 38-run opening stand.
Earlier, AB de Villiers had put up a fight for South Africa, but ran out of partners, finishing unbeaten on 104 for his eighth Test century as the Proteas were dismissed for 220 in their first innings midway through the second session.
■SRI LANKA V PAKISTAN
AFP, LAHORE, PAKISTAN
Kumar Sangakkara and Thilan Samaraweera notched brilliant centuries to help Sri Lanka recover from an early wobble on the opening day of the second Test against Pakistan yesterday.
Samaraweera followed his 231 in the drawn first Test in Karachi with a superb unbeaten 133, while Sangakkara scored 104 as the tourists recovered from 35-2 to reach 317-4 after Pakistan won the toss and put their opponents in.
Pakistan had exploited the early life from a green-looking Qaddafi Stadium pitch by removing openers Malinda Warnapura (8) and Tharanga Paranavitana (21) and then had the prized scalp of skipper Mahela Jayawardene (30).
But left-hander Sangakkara and Samaraweera settled down gradually and benefited from some sloppy work by Pakistan’s fielders, who dropped two crucial chances — one off each batsmen.
Sangakkara eventually snicked the new ball to wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal in Yasir Arafat’s second over with the new ball. Sangakkara hit eight boundaries during his 334-minute stay.
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