Colombo, Sri Lanka – West Indies Head Coach Ottis Gibson has praised young opener Adrian Barath for his brilliant maiden One Day International century on Monday. Gibson described Barath’s stroke-filled 113 off 129 balls as “something special” and said the 20-year-old right-hander showed maturity beyond his years.
West Indies head coach Ottis Gibson.
Barath piloted the Windies to 245 for 5 off 50 overs in the series opener. The match was abandoned at the halfway stage due to heavy rain. The knock was Barath’s second international century – following the 104 he made on Test debut in Australia at age 19.
“Adrian played a brilliant innings. He played with a lot of maturity. I have been seeing that in the last couple of series, he is starting to mature as a player and ‘finding’ his game and this showed yesterday in that superb innings,” Gibson said.
“It was an innings of total control. The Sri Lankans bowled well early on, in what were difficult conditions for batting, but he stayed there and capitalised in the middle overs. It was some of the best batting I have seen for a long time in the middle of an innings between himself and Ramnaresh Sarwan. That got us to a very competitive total in the end,” said Gibson, the former West Indies player.
The Head Coach was speaking after the Windies had a full training session on Tuesday at the Sinhalese Sports Club. The 2nd ODI match is at the same venue on Thursday.
First ball: Wednesday midnight Eastern Caribbean Time/11 pm Wednesday Jamaica Time). The 3rd and final ODI is on Sunday.
Sarwan made 75 from 100 balls on his return to the team on Monday – with a massive straight six and four crisp fours. The 30-year-old right-hander helped Barath add 165 from 184 balls.
Gibson said: “We have always known what Sarwan is capable of. The way he played, it showed that he is a class player, and it was good to see the way he controlled the middle period and put us on top. The partnership was fantastic for us and that is the kind of approach we will need in the future going forward – with our senior players guiding our younger players. It was great to see. In tough situations we need them to get us to match-winning totals and ultimately win matches for us.”
Gibson also spoke of the possible return of livewire all rounder Dwayne Bravo to the team for Thursday’s match. The 27-year-old missed the opening match as a precaution for a slight niggle to his right knee but had a full training session on Tuesday.
“We were a little cautious before the first match and the physio C.J. Clark said we should give him a little bit more time. He has taken part in the training session fully and he has done everything that has been asked of him. He comes into the reckoning for Thursday’s match. From the nets everybody is looking really good and we had some good batting in the first match so we are pleased with the way it’s going.”