da pinup bet： Sri Lankan coach Dav Whatmore paid tribute to Chaminda Vaas at the end ofthe second day of the final Test in Colombo after the left-arm pace bowlerhad ripped through the West Indies batting with the second new ball
Charlie Austin30-Nov-2001Sri Lankan coach Dav Whatmore paid tribute to Chaminda Vaas at the end ofthe second day of the final Test in Colombo after the left-arm pace bowlerhad ripped through the West Indies batting with the second new ball.West Indies started the day in pole position but Vaas picked up a careerbest seven for 120 to bowl out the West Indies for 390 on a batsmen friendlysurface at the Sinhalese Sorts Club.”Chaminda (Vaas) has been threatening to do that for a while now'” saidWhatmore. “I just feel that he has turned a corner in the last six months orso. He is able to be as effective with the old ball as he is with the newball.”Vaas has now taken 19 wickets in the series and Whatmore believes the27-year-old, playing in his 56th Test, has now emerged as a top-flight fastbowler.”I think he has found the key, the door is open, and we are going to see thebest of Chaminda over the coming years,” he said.”For me he is more at ease with his mind now and doesn’t put himself underas much pressure to get results. This has allowed him to relax and allowedhim to get much better results.”Yesterday, Vaas had whipped out both openers with the new ball and today hegrabbed a further five with the second new ball.”The wickets came from a combination of perseverance and the fact that hewas moving the ball both ways and putting it in the rights areas.”Whatmore now hopes the Sri Lankan batsmen can cash in on a crucial thirdday.”We need to get stuck in and get as many as possible in the first innings,”he said. “It will be an interesting days play tomorrow.”We have enough batting left if they apply themselves. If we can get throughthe initial overs tomorrow morning then we can make it very hard for theWest Indies bowlers.Brian Lara, who scored 221 before he was bowled by Vaas shortly beforelunch, was disappointed with the collapse but still believes that the teamcan win the match.”We are very disappointed. As I said yesterday our plan today was to batmost of the day, but we were under pressure from very early, losing Carl(Hooper) and Marlon (Samuels),” Lara said.”We are still in with a fighting chance. The pitch seems to be giving alittle more help to the fast bowlers than Galle and hopefully we canrestrict them to below our score and make them play defensively. We alreadyhave three Sri Lankan wickets and lets hope that we can get deep into theirlower order tomorrow morning.”