Arosa Sri Lanka vs West Indies Rebel XI continued - Day 2
The game resumed with Arosa Sri Lanka looking to try to break the 9th wicket partnership, currently 50 runs, and hoping to keep the West Indies score under 350. However, with more attacking fields there were increased gaps in the outfield and Moseley and Croft sensed the chance to hit some big shots. With the pitch still playing well and little pace on the ball, there wasn't much risk to the big shots and the boundaries came thick and fast. At the start of the day the partnership was 50 off 49 balls, and incredibly that very quickly became a partnership of 102 off 68 balls
Moseley was particularly aggressive, and his overnight 27 off 23 became a 30-ball half century, the 50 being brought up with a huge six:
Though not scoring quite as quickly as Moseley, Croft also brought up his 50 with a huge 6, his half-century coming at the comparatively sedate pace of 46 balls.
The onslaught from the two West Indies tailenders was continued, and boundaries were still flowing as the Sri Lankan fielding and bowling began to become ragged. However, taking such risks a chance was bound to come eventually, and Croft edged behind to be dismissed for 63 off 53
Sylvester Clarke was the last man in joining a Moseley who's eye was well in and was determined not to let the loss of his partner in mayhem to slow him down. Moseley's barrage continued, and he progressed quickly to 85 at which point he mistimed yet another big shot... However, Moseley's luck was in as the fielder, having done the hard work to get there, shelled a reasonably easy chance.
Moseley obviously sensed he needed to maximise his luck and continued to hit out - in no time at all he was through the 90s and reached his 100 off just 50 balls.
It didn't take long before the 10th wicket partnership was worth 50, and Sylvester Clarke had contributed just 3 from 7!
Incredibly, Moseley just went on and on, passing 150 just 18 balls after reaching his ton
and when the 100 partnership for the 10th wicket came up, Clarke was still on just 8!
With the scoreboard having long since passed 400 and 450, Moseley continued to hit out and even the 500 was reached, a score the West Indies could only have dreamt of when Moseley and Croft came together the previous evening at 261/8.
Moseley's luck finally ran out, when on 181 he was out in an almost carbon copy of the dropped catch he survived 96 runs earlier.
The West Indies were finally dismissed for 511 off 86.5 overs, adding an astonishing 200 runs in just 16.5 overs on the second morning, with Moseley responsible for 154 of them off a mere 53 balls. It was an astonishing onslaught to take his team to a commanding total, and it will be interesting to see how Arosa Sri Lanka can recover from this position.