Sarwan, Hinds to the rescue

Georgetown: A fine 89 from Ramnaresh Sarwan and a solid 68 by Ryan Hinds saved West Indies A from complete collapse on the opening day of the second and final four-day Test against India A at Bourda yesterday.

The hosts, who won the toss and batted in ideal conditions, rallied to 227 for eight at the close with Sarwan being dismissed off the penultimate ball of an absorbing day's play.

The total represented a good recovery, engineered by the righthanded Sarwan and left-handed Hinds after the home team slumped to 60 for four at lunch.

Guyanese Sarwan, 19, who struck a six, a five and 12 fours in 285 minutes, shared a face-saving 137-run fifth-wicket partnership with the Barbadian Hinds, the West Indies Youth World Cup skipper.

The pair took the initiative from the Indians after fast bowler Harvinder Singh Sodhi and left-arm spinner Murali Karthik had threatened to dismiss West Indies A for a moderate total with two wickets each in the pre-lunch session.

By tea, the were 131 for four with the more aggressive Hinds on 45 and Sarwan moving to 30 from his lunch-time five.

The two teenagers, mixing aggression with defence and running sensibly between the wickets, defied the pace-spin attack of the Indians for the entire post-lunch session. Hinds, already with a half-century in the first Test in Trinidad and Tobago last week, reached a richly deserved 50 just after tea with two consecutive fours off left-arm spinner Rahul Sanghvi, while Sarwan followed suit with a lofted extra-cover drive off the same bowler.

Hinds fell with the total at 190 for five when he played a tiredlooking flick shot at left-arm Sridharan Sriram and was bowled. His 205-minute knock included ten fours.