Sarwan ruled out of rest of series

West Indies suffered another blow to their already dismal tour of New Zealand when Ramnaresh Sarwan was ruled out of the rest of the series because of a torn muscle in his left leg, an injury he picked up during the third ODI a fortnight ago. He further damaged his leg while fielding in the second innings of the first Test at Eden Park. Imran Khan, the team manager, said that Sarwan would fly home from Auckland while the team heads for Wellington, where the second of the three Tests starts on Friday.

Khan pointed out that the blow Sarwan took to the back of the helmet from Shane Bond on Sunday in West Indies' second innings, forcing him to retire hurt, was not the reason for his withdrawal. "That left him temporarily groggy but there was no concussion and he is feeling fine as far as that is concerned," Khan said. "But he tore a muscle in his leg fielding in the New Zealand second innings and he has been advised by team physiotherapist Stephen Partridge that it would need rest and treatment over the next few weeks."

According to Khan, no replacement has been sought.

Sarwan's place at No.3 in Wellington is almost certain to be taken by Runako Morton. Devon Smith, the left-handed opener, is another alternative. Morton was unlucky not to make the starting XI in the first Test after averaging 57.25 in the preceding National Bank ODI series, in which his unbeaten 110 in Napier remains the only hundred by a West Indies batsman so far on tour.

Sarwan's injury follows those that have prevented Dwayne Bravo and Jerome Taylor from bowling. Bravo, the allrounder, strained muscles in his left side in the opening match of the tour, the Twenty20 International, and played in the first Test strictly as a batsman. Taylor strained his left hamstring during the first Test and was confined to eight overs in the first innings and one in the second. Bravo, who scored 59 and 17 and remains outstanding in the field, will retain his place in Wellington, barring further mishaps. Daren Powell would be a straight swap for fellow Jamaican Taylor. The damages, both psychological and physical, will severely test West Indies' resilience.

Given little hope of even competing favourably in the Test series, following their 4-1 loss in the ODIs, West Indies matched New Zealand until their middle order collapse on Sunday led to defeat. Their limited bowling staff, with less than 100 wickets between them and further depleted by Taylor's injury, demonstrated what can be achieved by discipline and commitment. Ian Bradshaw, a Test debutant at 31 but an experienced and thoughtful cricketer, set the example with his persistence and patience that earned him overall figures of 57.1-13-156-6. The constant concern has generally been the perceived inability of West Indies' bowling to claim 20 wickets against Test opposition. There could be no such complaint this time.

The batting, featuring Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Sarwan and Chris Gayle in the top five, has a formidable look but, as in this match, frequently breaks down. Whenever it does again, West Indies will inevitably lose.

Indeed, West Indies would surely have won had the bowlers had the support of both their main batsmen and their wicketkeeper. Chanderpaul and Lara scored 33 runs between them, Denesh Ramdin missed two vital second innings catches, off Stephen Fleming before he had scored and Daniel Vettori at 4 off his second ball, completely spoiling his 21st birthday yesterday.

Bennett King, the coach, was clearly disappointed with the defeat, the West Indies' seventh in succession and their tenth in 12 Tests in the past year. But he was adamant that the team was "moving in the right direction".

"We've lost a lot of games, but sometimes you've got to get to the depths of despair before you start re-emerging," he said. "You can look at a lot of cricket teams in the history of the game, and you can see how many have been in similar positions before. It's how you react at that stage that counts.

"Over the time that I've been here, I certainly think we've improved and progressed in different areas," King added. "We're creating opportunities to win Test matches ... [and] this was a game that was there for the taking."

King was philosophical about the missed catches. "I guess it's better to have created chances and lost them than not to have created any chances at all," he added. "Catches went down on both sides and if New Zealand had lost they would have said their misses were costly. As it was, we lost so our missed chances were just as costly."