Ramnaresh Sarwan

Rise in ranks

He has been a member of the West Indies cricket team since his Test debut against Pakistan at Barbados in May 2000 – a match in which he was unbeaten in both innings including a first innings score of 84 not out. He missed scoring his maiden Test century against South Africa in March 2001 when he was run out for 91. His score of 78 in the second Test against India at Chennai in October 2002 was his fourth innings of 75+ that was not converted into a century. His maiden Test century came in his next Test series against Bangladesh at Dhaka. His next Test century came against Australia at St. John's in May 2003. His best innings (291) came against England in February/March 2009. Sarwan is also a part-time leg-break bowler with best bowling figures of 4 for 37.

During the most recent controversy involving the bowling action of Sri Lanka great Muttiah Muralitharan, which led to an International Cricket Council investigation of most of the world's international-class bowlers, Sarwan was found to be the only bowler tested who did not transgress the Laws of Cricket regarding the straightening of the arm during delivery.

On 23 June 2006, on his 26th birthday, while playing against India Sarwan hit 6 fours in an over off Munaf Patel and emulated Sandeep Patil (off Bob Willis, seven balls), Sanath Jayasuriya (off James Anderson, six balls) and Chris Gayle (off Matthew Hoggard, six balls) playing at Warner Park Sporting Complex.

Sarwan was dropped from the side for the second Test against Pakistan in November 2006. It was the first time in his six-year career that he had missed a game due to poor form. According to captain Brian Lara "It wasn't designed as a drop. We just wanted to make him aware of the situation and come back stronger. We need him and we need him to take control."

Captaincy

On 29 April 2007 it was announced that Sarwan was to succeed the retiring Brian Lara as captain of the West Indies following the West Indies' exit from the 2007 Cricket World Cup.^[3]

During the second Test in the West Indies tour of England in May 2007, Sarwan injured his shoulder when he collided with the boundary fence while attempting to cut off a boundary. The injury was serious enough to rule him out of the remainder of the tour and for a further ten months.

Post captaincy

Sarwan returned to the West Indies side in 2008 for the home series against Sri Lanka, as vice-captain to the current captain, Chris Gayle. Throughout the series Sarwan showed excellent form with the bat, looking very fluent and scoring over 50 in four consecutive innings, including a match-winning century, at an average of 77.75.

In the 2008 Test series against Australia, Sarwan continued his fine batting form by following up with a half century and a matching saving 128 in the 2nd Test in North Sound, Antigua. At the age 28 years, 228 days he became the youngest West Indian to reach the 5,000 runs milestone when he scored a century against England in Jamaica. In the 2009 home series against England, in scoring his 13th Test match century Sarwan equalled the record for the most centuries in the fourth innings – a record he shares with Sunil Gavaskar and Ricky Ponting,^[4] In the first innings of the fourth test he recorded his personal best of 291 which equalled the highest score for the West Indies of the great Sir Vivian Richards.

An innings-by-innings breakdown of Sarwan's Test match batting career, showing runs scored (red bars) and the average of the last ten innings (blue line).

Late career

Sarwan did however lose his central contract due to poor fitness and indifferent form. West Indies coach Ottis Gibson stated that leaving Sarwan out was a tough decision but he will make many contributions to the West Indies in the future and that he needs time to regain his form. Therefore, he wasn't selected for the tour of Sri Lanka along with regular wicket-keeper Denesh Ramdin^[5]

He announced his retirement from international cricket in September 2016.^[6] He played his last international match as an ODI against India at The Oval on 11 June 2013.

Test Centuries

The following table illustrates a summary of the Test centuries scored by Ramnaresh Sarwan.

• In the column Runs, * indicates being not out.
• The column title Match refers to the Match Number of his career.

Test Centuries of Ramnaresh Sarwan[7]
#	Runs	Match	Against	City/Country	Venue	Start date	Result
1	119	28	Bangladesh	Dhaka, Bangladesh	Bangabandhu National Stadium	8 December 2002	Won
2	105	32	Australia	St. John's, Antigua	Antigua Recreation Ground	9 May 2003	Won
3	114	38	South Africa	Durban, South Africa	Kingsmead	26 December 2003	Lost
4	119	40	South Africa	Centurion, South Africa	SuperSport Park	16 January 2004	Lost
5	261*	46	Bangladesh	Kingston, Jamaica	Sabina Park	4 June 2004	Won
6	139	48	England	Birmingham, England	Edgbaston	29 July 2004	Lost
7	107*	51	South Africa	Port of Spain, Trinidad	Queen's Park Oval	8 April 2005	Lost
8	127	53	South Africa	St. John's, Antigua	Antigua Recreation Ground	29 April 2005	Drawn
9	116	62	India	Basseterre, St Kitts	Warner Park	22 June 2006	Drawn
10	102	69	Sri Lanka	Port of Spain, Trinidad	Queen's Park Oval	3 April 2008	Won
11	128	71	Australia	North Sound, Antigua	Sir Vivian Richards Stadium	30 May 2008	Drawn
12	107	75	England	Kingston, Jamaica	Sabina Park	4 February 2009	Won
13	106	77	England	St. John's, Antigua	Antigua Recreation Ground	15 February 2009	Drawn
14	291	78	England	Bridgetown, Barbados	Kensington Oval	26 February 2009	Drawn
15	100	81	England	Chester-le-Street, England	Riverside Ground	14 May 2009	Lost

ODI centuries

One Day International Centuries of Ramnaresh Sarwan[8]
#	Runs	Match	Against	City/Country	Venue	Date	Result
1	102*	28	Bangladesh	Dhaka, Bangladesh	Bangabandhu National Stadium	2 December 2002	Won
2	104*	59	England	Bridgetown, Barbados	Kensington Oval	5 May 2004	Lost
3	115*	100	India	Basseterre, St Kitts	Warner Park	23 May 2006	Won
4	100*	153	Ireland	Kingston, Jamaica	Sabina Park	15 April 2010	Won
5	120*	178	Zimbabwe	St. George's, Grenada	National Cricket Stadium	24 February 2013	Won

Career Best Performances

as of 23 June 2013

One Day International Cricket

Man of the Match awards

S No	Opponent	Venue	Date	Match Performance	Result
1	India	Keenan Stadium, Jamshedpur	6 November 2002	82* (89 balls, 6x4, 3x6)	West Indies won by 4 wickets.[9]
2	Bangladesh	Bangabandhu National Stadium, Dhaka	2 December 2002	102* (100 balls, 11x4); 1 ct.	West Indies won by 84 runs.[10]
3	England	Darren Sammy National Cricket Stadium, Gros Islet	1 May 2004	73* (77 balls, 4x4, 2x6)	West Indies won by 5 wickets.[11]
4	South Africa	Kennington Oval, London	18 September 2004	75 (99 balls, 2x4, 3x6)	West Indies won by 5 wickets.[12]
5	Pakistan	The Rose Bowl, Southampton	22 September 2004	1 ct. ; 56* (85 balls, 6x4, 1x6)	West Indies won by 7 wickets.[13]
6	Zimbabwe	Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain	14 May 2006	91 (115 balls, 5x4)	West Indies won by 104 runs.[14]
7	India	Sabina Park, Kingston	20 May 2007	98* (138 balls, 7x4, 1x6)	West Indies won by 1 run.[15]
8	India	Warner Park, Basseterre	23 May 2007	1-0-1-1 ; 115* (119 balls, 10x4, 2x6)	West Indies won by 4 wickets.[16]