Call for fans to boycott Trinidad Test

....over dropping of local boy Jaggernauth:

Elmo Rodrigopulle from the West Indies

A call has gone out for fans to boycott the Second Test between Sri Lanka and the West Indies beginning at the Queen's Park Oval, here in Trinidad on Thursday.

The reason being the dropping of off spinner Amrit Jaggernauth the local boy in preference to Suleiman Benn, the 6 foot 5 inch left arm spinner whose bowling record is not as good as off spinner Jaggernauth, in the First Test.

As it is, the First Test in Guyana which was won by Sri Lanka by 121 runs saw poor crowds of the first four days of play. The final day with the Windies promising to make a match of it at 96 for one, starting the final day chasing victory, spectators came in their numbers, but left disappointed when the home team lost.

The excuse adduced for the poor crowd turn out is the pricing of tickets. Fans here can't afford it and the call is for ticket prices to be reduced. Poor spectator support was also evident during the World Cup played here last year. It is also obvious that when the West Indies are in a winning way for crowds to come in and vice versa.

It would be interesting to see how the crowds would turn out for the Second Test with Sri Lanka promising to add to their success in Guyana and the Windies needing to win to save face. Suleiman 'Big' Benn who went wicketless in the first innings, secured his first Test scalp, that of Mahela Jayawardena who top edged mistiming an intended pull.

How the West Indies selectors would go for the final Test - give continuity to Benn or slot in Jaggernauth will be interesting to watch.

Catching up with Mahela

Mahela Jayawardena, the Sri Lankan skipper whose captaincy came in for high praise after his brilliant century and the way he piloted his team, was all smiles when he and the team touched down at the Trinidad Airport ahead of Second Test.

Jayawardena's first words to me was that there would be no letting up in the Second Test. 'We know they would come back hard at us. But we have a good attack and defence force and we will take them on', said the skipper.

He was disappointed that there was no three-day practice game. He did not want to comment on that but preferred to stay focussed on the Test ahead. On his victory in the First Test, he said that the positive run-chase was exactly what Sri Lanka hoped for. 'We wanted them to play a few shots, because that's how we could have created opportunities.

"We gave them a target they could achieve, rather than give them 500, where they would have got into a defensive frame of mind. We gave them a target, we thought would like to chase because they have shot-makers. Bravo and Sarwan batted really well.

We had to be very patient with these two guys, make sure that we don't give them too may runs, wait for the opportunity, which we did and once we got that breakthrough, we picked up a few more wickets and then victory had to come.

Jayawardena said that when they arrived, they had a challenge to win a Test match for the first time in the Caribbean and we have achieved that . We played hard and a lot of guys contributed, said the skipper.

The victory was another feather in Mahela's cap.