[www.inewsguyana.com] – A return performance from opener Chris Gayle and top order teammate Marlon Samuels led the West Indies to a draw in their three day warm up fixture in Kolkata.
The Jamaican duo clobbered their way to 58 each in fine style, Gayle’s knock coming off 49 balls inclusive of 11 fours at a strike rate of 118.3 while Samuels took 47 balls for his half century with a strike rate of 123.4
The other batsmen to spend a second chance at the crease in the windies 199-5 total were Kieran Powell who scored 15, Denesh Ramdin who made 41, Darren Sammy 8 and the Guyanese duo of Narsingh Deonarine and Veerasammy Permaul left on 10 and 6 respectively.
Piyush Chawla bagged four of the five wickets to fall for the hosting Uttar Pradesh 11 after being the lead bowler with 14 overs, one maiden, and a total of 72 runs being inked against his name for an economy rate of 5.14
Arish Alam was the other wicket taker as his 11 overs went for 47 runs at an economy rate of 4.27 with one maiden being bowled.
Earlier in the day, Permaul and Sheldon Cottrell limited the host side to 372 for 9 declared after 96.3 overs.
Permaul and Cottrell bagged three a piece, the Guyanese Spinner bowling 33 overs with six maidens for a total of 124 runs at an economy rate of 3.75 while the Jamaican quickie had 19.3 overs under his belt accented with 3 maidens and 65 runs at an economy rate of 3.33.
Tino Best Picked up 2 wickets in his 18 over brawl for a total of 77 runs while captain Sammy had one wicket fall through his bowling.
The lead scorer for Pradesh’s side was Pravinder Singh who made 112 off 142 balls with 2 sixes and 17 fours while other substantial scores included 42 (4×4) from Mukul Dagar, 47 (7×4) from Amir Khan and 46 (9×4) from Chawla.
The first of the two match test series is billed for November 6-10 while the second will take place in Mumbai from the 14th to the 18th.
