da fazobetai： England A saw their Busta International Shield title hopes slideaway into the Georgetown culverts today after Ramnaresh Sarwanput paid to their semi-final plans to win first innings pointsagainst Guyana
da gbg bet： Kate Laven27-Feb-2001England A saw their Busta International Shield title hopes slideaway into the Georgetown culverts today after Ramnaresh Sarwanput paid to their semi-final plans to win first innings pointsagainst Guyana.The 20 year-old Test batsman made 110 from 274 balls in aninnings spanning just over six hours. It was his fifth firstclass century and his first on home soil and while Carl Hooperexhibited power and good judgement for his 91 yesterday, thehugely talented Sarwan showed patience and good timing, steeringhis side past the 293 target set by England A to secure firstinnings points.Now, all Guyana have to do to progress through to the final nextweekend is to draw this match. England A meanwhile have tocomplete an outright win to qualify and after losing both IanWard, John Crawley and Michael Powell in the closing stages, thistask has taken on gargantuan proportions.England A’s batsmen played enterprisingly in the final session,their wickets falling in the chase for quick runs as they soughtto build up a big second innings total and leave themselves withenough time on the final day to bowl Guyana out.The opening stand between Ian Ward and Michael Powell was one ofthe best of the tour so far, as both players took risks to getthe ball away. Ward pulled Mahendra Nagamootoo over mid wicketfor six and Powell attempted his trademark reverse sweeps, two ofwhich spun to the boundary.But with the total on 124, Ward tried the pull shot again, thistime to pace bowler Reon King but Carl Hooper was in line to takean easy catch at mid wicket and the Surrey opener, who hasenjoyed a successful tour with the bat was dispatched having made56.Crawley faced two balls before he became King’s second victim,struck on the pads to receive an immediate verdict from umpireEddie Nicholls and Powell went the same way, in the over beforestumps, having struck a impressive 59, his half century comingfrom 103 balls and three fours.By the close, England A were 165 for three, having scored at morethan four an over in the 39 bowled in the innings and their leadover Guyana had extended to 129 runs.It could have been more had Sarwan not played a faultlessinnings, denying England A any chance of a sniff at his wicket.He struck 12 boundaries, leaving no quarter of the Bourda grounduntouched and received rousing encouragement from a small butboisterous crowd who in between barracking for Sarwan foundenough energy to make Ryan Sidebottom’s life uncomfortable, hisspectacular hair, ambitious footballing displays and aggressionattracting a series of insults from the folk behind long on.There was a delay as a stray dog wandered onto the field andmooched around, untroubled by any official for more than fiveminutes. It even found time to make a deposit, under the nose ofan irritated Ward who gestured to the groundstaff for one of themto come and clear it away, quickly.Clearly he too was getting stick from the crowd since he thensuggested the poop be scooped in their direction, prompting thebiggest reaction of the day.Sarwan’s innings came to a close when he finally holed out toWard at long on off Graeme Swann’s bowling, in a spinners spellthat saw that last three wickets fall for 21, both Swann andChris Schofield earning four wickets a piece.Guyana made 336, a lead of 43 runs but according to England Acoach Peter Moores, a plan of action for the remaining sessionswas formulated and immediately deployed.”We knew we had to get runs quickly and decided we wanted to putat least 160 on the board by the close of play. Our openersplayed extremely well and we were happy that we made quickprogress” he said.”It would have been nice to have got Sarwan out sooner but heplayed extremely well and although we bowled well, he didn’toffer up too many opportunities.”Tomorrow we will aim to get around 250 but the key thing isleaving ourselves with around 60 overs to bowl them out and thenI think we are still in with a very good chance of winning.”Our policy is all or nothing. We are definitely prepared tosacrifice a defeat in the pursuit of victory because we badlywant to get into the final so we know what we have to do” hesaid.
