Audley Boyd, Assistant Sport Editor
AS RAMNARESH Sarwan gets set for the milestone of playing his 100th One-Day International today, he continues to survey the trail blazed by the region's great cricketers of the past.
His purpose? Restoring its game to past standards.
Admittedly, he says it's the driving force behind his will to wield his willow successfully whenever he steps out in the middle.
CONTINUE LEGACY
"To continue to do my best and try and help West Indies cricket go forward, it's been my goal since I came into this team," the middle-order batsman offered when asked about his goals after leading the team to a heart-throbbing win over India in the Digicel ODI series, at Sabina Park on Saturday.
"The legacy we've had in the past motivates me ... to know of what we had in the past and stuff like that ... it's kind of hard," he added in obvious reference to the team's fall from the pinnacle to near rock-bottom. "I think that's one of my main goals to try and guide the team forward to get back."
Sarwan won the Man-of-the-Match award after scoring an unbeaten 98 off 138 balls, providing the backbone of his team's low total of 198 off the 50 allotted overs.
He came to the wicket in the second over at the loss of first innings century-maker - opener Chris Gayle - with a run on the board and saw his team reduced to 43 for four in the 19th over.
Asked about missing out on a ton, Sarwan, who has scored only two ODI hundreds, said: "Of course not. I don't mind scoring 98 and us winning all the time. I just thought the way I batted, I needed to adjust to the situation. The coach (Bennett King) and Brian (Lara) stressed to me that whenever you get the opportunity, try and bat through the 50 overs. It kind of paid off for us."
BATTING CONDITIONS
Commenting on the batting conditions, the 25-year-old Guyanese admitted "It was pretty difficult early up. At that point I was just saying to myself I need to bat through the 50 overs and try to get the total close to 200 or just over 200. I thought the way Carlton (Baugh) batted it kind of eased some of the pressure off me.
"It became difficult when the spinners came on. It wasn't easy trying to get the ball away. They bowled pretty well in the first 20 overs. It was pretty hard work."
There's that one little bugbear, the short ball, which he's looking to shake. He has been dismissed hooking on several occasions.
"Yes, I've been trying to get out of the way," he admitted of the evasive action taken against short-pitched balls in Saturday's match. "I've been doing a lot of work on it and it paid off in this game but sometimes it just happens instinctively so I can't promise ... that I will stop."
With a career ODI average of 45.72 in 99 matches and a highest one-day score of 104, he remains one of the West Indies' most reliable batters. He has maintained that good form over the last two series, putting away 200 runs in four strikes for a flat-50 average against Zimbabwe; and 44.25 in an earlier series in the southern hemisphere against the Kiwis.
Like the great West Indies legacy he's fighting to rebuild, Sarwan is only too aware of his latest achievements and wants to at least maintain his standard.
"The way I've been batting against Zimbabwe, stroking the ball, timing the ball and so on, so far I'm pleased with the way things are going, there's no complaints. I just think I need to continue with the same type of performance, continue to be positive," he points out.
