Jayasuriya admits to moment of doubt in tense final hour

CricInfo SL

November 25, 2001

Sri Lankan captain Sanath Jayasuriya admitted that he felt Sri Lanka's victory chance had slipped away during a nail-biting final hour in Kandy.

Sri Lanka eventually won the match with just 16 minutes to spare as man of the match Muralitharan grabbed three wickets in 12 balls to finish off the West Indies and win the match by 131 runs.

Going into the final hour, with the light fading fast, West Indies still had four wickets remaining with Marlon Samuels and Mervyn Dillon going strong.

"In my heart I had doubts that we could win it in that last hour," he said.

"But the light was okay and I had to keep persevering with Murali. The wicket of Dillon allowed us to break through."

Jayasuriya was delighted with the performance of his two senior bowlers: Muttiah Muralitharan, who took ten-wickets in the game for the fourth consecutive Test, and Chaminda Vaas.

"Both Murali and Chaminda bowled really well. The ball bounced and turned in the first innings, but getting wickets in the second innings was not easy. They bowled one line and kept the batsmen under pressure."

"It was an all round performance that won us the game. Everyone is doing their job at the right time and we are playing well as a team at the moment."

He revealed that the presence of Lara had delayed the declaration, which was made after discussion with the senior players and coach Dav Whatmore.

"Brian Lara and Carl Hooper were in our minds when we made the declaration. Lara can score a hundred at anytime. We didn't want to lose. That was our first consideration."

"We felt though that 84 overs would be sufficient to bowl out the West Indies on a fifth day wicket. The weather was out of our control. If it had rained then that was bad luck."

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Players/Umpires

Sanath Jayasuriya

Series/Tournaments

West Indies tour of Sri Lanka

Teams

Sri Lanka

West Indies