'Holding was talking about my shoulder problem' says Sarwan

‘Holding was talking about my shoulder problem’ says Sarwan

May 12, 2009 Sports

Elegant Guyanese ready for Thursday’s second Test

Sarwan elegantly gathers runs during his double century against england.

During the first Test which the West Indies lost by 10 wicket to England at Lords, former West Indies fast bowler Michael Holding mentioned during the post match TV coverage of the Test, that hopefully Ramnaresh Sarwan would sort out a personal problem in order to make runs in the second Test which starts Thursday.

The Jamaican commentator did not say what was the problem and his comments led to speculation among local fans. The right-hander from Wakanaam, yesterday cleared the air and told Kaieteur Sport that it was nothing to be too worried about. “It’s my shoulder he’s talking about! I had seven injections a few days ago during the test match but all is well now,” Sarwan who turns 29 next month, explained.

The stylish stroke-player who has slipped one place down to 14 in the latest ICC Test batting ranking, is one of only two West Indians in the top 15 with his countryman Shivnarine Chanderpaul slipping to number two after holding down the number one positions since last July.

Sarwan managed just 13 and 1 and faced 24 balls in the first Test. He says the cold weather is making life a bit uncomfortable for the Caribbean players, but he is ready for the second Test, and is hoping to reproduce the form that saw him scoring 626 runs from six innings at an average of 104.33 including a career-best 291 against England two months ago in the Caribbean.

Sarwan, who averages 42.03 and has 14 centuries and 5,549 runs from 80 Tests, is confident that he will get ‘a score’ in Thursday’s Test, and says once the senior players in himself, Chanderpaul and Skipper Chris Gayle can contribute and the other batsmen chip in, the West Indies should do well.
The GCC player, who became the region’s youngest First-Class player in 1996 when he made his debut against Barbados at Albion, feels the bowlers did a good job in the first Test but the batting and catching let the team down.

The Guyanese, who has scored 1,297 runs at an average of 46.32 with four tons from 19 Tests against England, said the very cold conditions could have contributed to the faulty West Indies catching, as six catches were floored in a single session.
“We have talked about what went wrong and what we need to work on and we are confident that if we play to our full ability and remain consistent, we could win the last Test and level the series,” Sarwan, who averaged 43.70 from 146 ODIs, added.
(Sean Devers)

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