Date-stamped : 13 Jan96 - 18:34 ODI # 1028 World Series, Match 6. West Indies v Sri Lanka Bellerive Oval, Hobart 3 January 1996. `SHIV` 77, WINDIES WIN BY 70 RUNS - Bernie Wijesekera THE West Indies fast bowlers, really rallied around skipper Richie Richardson, who desperately needed a win in the on going B and H World series when they helped their captain`s clarion call to lead them to a convincing win over Sri Lanka by 70 runs with 12.2 overs to spare here today. The Windies sent into bat, made 194 runs thanks to a gutsy 77, by Shiv Chandrapaul (man-of-the match). Before this match there were calls for the sacking of Richardson as captain to be re- placed by Walsh. This was quashed when the team gave a spirited team effort all round to win this match. Sri Lanka was of course depleted without Ranatunga and paceman Wickremasinghe. But this is no way of taking away the credit from the Windies, who put on enormous pressure. Everything went right for them to win this match in style. Windies made 194. Sri Lanka 124 in 37.4 overs. Gibson rocked the batting with 5 for 42, in 8.4 overs. Sri Lanka again suffered from a dismal start losing Jayasuriya for 3 - 4 for 1, continuing with their woeful openers problem on this tour. Mahanama, joined by Gurusinha struggled to get going against the awesome quad of Ambrose, Walsh, Bishop and Gibson. Mahanama still to find his touch was gone in Gibson`s second ball, in first over, for 10 runs in 57 balls. Aravinda de Silva started off with a flourish when he whipped Gibson for 4 over mid-wicket. Gibson in his next over had the prized wicket of Aravinda caught by Campbell at mid-on, for 6, to start the middle - order batting debacle. At the 20th over it was 60 for 3, with the West Indians giving nothing away on the field with `keeper Courtney Browne who, flew to his left to hold on to a brilliant lefthanded catch to dismiss Tillekeratne, who survived for 28 balls to score 5 runs - 74 for 4 in the 24th over. Gurusinha on 38 helped by a runner - Jayasuriya, was joined by Kaluwitharne, who flashed two superb shots for fours, over mid-wicket and backward point off Gibson, but was foolishly run out when calling for a run. A direct hit by (sub) Roland Holder saw him stranded. At this stage the writing was on the wall. The West Indians, who lost the SCG game to the Aussies by one run made sure that it was not repeated here. There were no positive strokeplay by Gurusinha in this one dayer here to help Sri Lanka`s cause. Fi- nally he was run out when Hathurusinghe called for a run. Bishop`s follow through hit the stumps for a subdued 48 (made in 83 balls, in 128 mts., with three fours). - 94 for 6. Gib- son who had 7-0-303, came for his second spell and blew up the tail - all out for 124 in 37.4 overs in 171 mts. The West In- dians posting their first win in five games are now in con- ten- tion with Sri Lanka for the final against Australia. Sri Lanka, who has to play the Windies on Friday in a day night in Brisbane, will, in all probability miss skipper Arjuna Rana- tunga, not fully recovered from his injury to his finger. While fastman Wickremasinghe, too is a doubtful starter, hampered by an an- kle injury. Sri Lanka bt. the Windies in the first match by 4 wkts., and lost to Australia by 5 wickets, thanks to Michael Bevan. The Lankans have to play 3 more matches against the Aussies and 2 against the Windies all under lights. Gloomy overcast skies amid cold conditions greeted the fans of the Bellerive Oval, overlooking the picturesque Mt. Welling- ton, here today. Stand-in captain Aravinda de Silva, winning the toss, invited West Indies to bat first. Richie Richardson decided to play at the last minute in place of Jimmy Adams. The Windies made another change from the SCG game, bringing in Ian Bishop, in place of Willi- ams. Sri Lanka opted for Manjula Munasinghe for the injured Wickremasinghe. Here in Horbart the cynosure was the controversial Muralideran, to bowl in front of Daivis and Prue. `Murali` came in to bowl in the 21st over with the total at 68 for one. With Davis as head umpire, Muralideran, gave much flight and didn`t go much for vicious, spin. His first spell read 7-0-31-0 and had no problems. Aravinda de Silva handled the bowlers judiciously. Again he tested `Murali` from umpire`s Prue`s end. He ended up with 2 for 15, in 3 overs -10-0-46-2, one wide. Both Daivis and Prue, have vindicated Muralideran`s ac- tion. The West Indies batting again started bleeding in the very first over of this innings. In the second ball of Vaas` first over Phil Simmons, went for a duck for lefthanded bat Shiv Chan- drapaul, to join Campbell. Vaas moving the ball menacingly gave the batsmen a torrid time. Munasinghe playing in his first international on this tour kept on pegging to a line. The first ten overs saw only 22 runs. In the next five overs the pair added 28 runs - the 50 in 15.1 overs. Pint- sized Campbell and Chandrapaul, batting with growing confidence, gave a king-sized performance for the Windies recovery. Hathurusinghe`s second over cost 13 runs. Campbell lashed 10 runs with two lovely fours. The blooming second wicket stand realised 83 runs, before Sherwin Campbell going for a drive off Hathurusinghe nicked a catch to `keeper Kaluwitharane for 36 in 76 balls with 3 fours made in 110 mts. Richardson, came in and had a brief knock of 18 runs made in 25 balls before Richie was caught by Gurusingha at backward square-leg. The third-wicket stand with Chandrapaul ad- ded 42 runs. At the halfway mark it was 86 for 2. Meanwhile, Chandrapaul batting with assurance completed his 50 in 87 balls, with four fours. At the 21st over Muralideran who came in to bowl was the focus atten- tion. Both Chandrapaul and the in-form bat Carl Hooper had no diffi- culty in negotiating him. Chandrapaul hampered by a knee injury had to be assisted by Simmons as a runner `Shiv` on 77, mak- ing his highest one-day score departed at 164, caught in the gully by Vaas, off `Murali`. Earlier he made 73 against Sri Lanka in Sharjah. Chandrapaul had four fours made in 117 balls, in 162 mts. -161 for 4. Harper, became a victim of a flighted delivery off `Murali` bowled for 1. Carl Hooper driving powerfully looked dangerous going for quick runs. Hooper, who scored a sparkling 93 n.o., against the Aussies, in Sydney was in full flight. Aravinda de Silva held a smart catch at extra-cover to give Vaas his second wicket. Hooper`s 36 came in 33 balls with 2 fours. Earlier Aravinda, held another excellent catch to dismiss Gibson for 6 off Hathurusinghe. The West Indies final- ly were all out for 194 runs. The last six wickets added only 33 runs. Chaminda Vaas, who had a first spell of 5-2, 8-1, returned 3 for 21 in nine overs. West Indies 194 came in 48.2 overs. Sri Lanka in reply started poorly losing Sanath Jayasuriya caught by Ambrose at third man for 3 in Walsh`s first over - 4 for one. Source :: The Daily News (http://sri.lanka.net/lakehouse/) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com) ====> more Muralitharan gets the all-clear - Ihithisham Kamardeen MUTTIAH Muralitharan is innocent. Using precisely the action that almost had him kicked out of the game, the off-spinner reeled off 10 overs as his side lost to the West Indies by 70 runs in the triangular one-day series at the Bellerive Oval yesterday. By taking no action, umpires Terry Prue and Steve Davis distanced themselves from Darrell Hair`s decision to no-ball Muralitharan seven times on the first day of the second Test in Melbourne on Boxing Day. When asked whether Muralitharan had changed his action, Aravinda de Silva, the acting Sri Lankan captain, said: "No. Murali has bowled the same way for so long, he can`t change his action." Muralitharan bowled seven overs from Prue`s end and returned to complete his quota, three more from Davis`s end. Prue inspected Muralitharan`s bent-arm action closely from several metres behind the stumps as Hair had, while Davis stood closer and concentrated on watching his feet for no-ball. "I followed a similar procedure to Darrell [Hair]," Prue said. "When I established his feet were okay, I moved back a couple of paces to observe his arm." Prue watched Muralitharan bowl in Adelaide 11 days before Hair called him for throwing. When asked whether he saw any changes in his action, Prue said: "No. The overs I have seen him bowl, I don`t have any problems with his action." Davis said: "I treated him normally. I`m quite happy with every- thing I saw. You wouldn`t be human if you didn`t feel the pres- sure out there when everything was going on. We spoke to each other beforehand and treated it like another game." The day confirmed one thing - the legitimacy of Muralitharan`s action is nothing more than a matter of opinion - he may be guil- ty but it is truly a borderline case. In the name of fair play it will be rough justice if he is no- balled out of the game when so many different opinions are pro- vided. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)