Michael Holding, Andy Roberts, Joel Garner, Malcolm Marshall, Courtney
Walsh and Curtly Ambrose are the names that would send a chill down
any batsman's spine. These bowlers have a special place in cricket
history for batsmen feared and respected their pace and the ability to
win matches on their own. West Indies cricket has been slipping down
as the young players in the team found it difficult to keep up with
their legendary heroes of yesteryears; even prompting someone like
Vivian Richards to question the commitment of the youth in the side.
Corey Dalanelo Collymore is one player who can walk with his head held
high, bowling West Indies to a most memorable win against India on
Saturday at the Harare Sports Club in the final of the
triangular series for the Coca Cola Cup. Collymore was named Man of the
Match for his brilliant exploits with the ball that earned him the
figures of 10-1-49-1.
Collymore, the 23-year-old fast bowler from Barbados had to fill in
for the injured Cameron Cuffy. India was chasing a target of 291 runs
to be made in 50 overs to win the Coca Cola Cup. On Wednesday at the
same venue Sachin Tendulkar had the Windies bowlers running for cover
making a brilliant unbeaten century and in the process adding 133 runs
for the first wicket with Sourav Ganguly.
Collymore had other ideas as Tendulkar and Ganguly went out to chase
the imposing target. With the third ball of his second over he tasted
his first success; Tendulkar tried to hit him out of the ground without
getting in position for the pull stroke and ballooned an easy catch to
Ganga at mid-wicket. Tendulkar was gone for a duck and India were 9/1
after 2.3 overs.
The third ball of over number nine saw Collymore trapping Ganguly plumb in
front of the wicket with a full-length delivery. If two strikes were
not good enough, Collymore delivered the knockout punch in the 13th
over. VVS Laxman (18) got carried away with his attacking style and
pulled one straight to substitute fielder Leon Garrick. Collymore had
torn apart the Indian top order with a first spell that read 7-1-27-3.
Reetinder Singh Sodhi (67) and Sameer Dighe added 101 runs for the
sixth wicket in 21.4 overs and threatened to overrun the Windies
attack that had just three specialist bowlers. Collymore was brought
back for his second spell and he delivered the final blow by removing the
dangerman Sodhi, caught by Dillon at long on in the 40th over. Though
India put up a brave fight through Dighe (94*), West Indies won the
final by 16 runs. Collymore took the honours of being the Top
Performer.