KINGSTON, Jamaica, 7 June 2004 — Ramnaresh Sarwan slammed a career-best 157 not out yesterday as the West Indies built up a formidable first innings lead on the third day of the second Test against Bangladesh at Sabina Park.

Sarwan piloted the home team to 389 for four at lunch in reply to Bangladesh’s first innings of 284, already a lead of 105 runs.

The right-hander, two weeks away from his 24th birthday, blasted 18 boundaries off 268 balls in six hours, 42 minutes.

He lost nightwatchman Tino Best in the third over of the day, but Shivnarine Chanderpaul helped Sarwan add an unbroken 92 for the fifth wicket to restore West Indian supremacy.

Bangladesh sensed a comeback when Best edged Tapash Baisya to give wicketkeeper Khaled Mashud his third victim of the innings.

But Sarwan continued where he left off on Saturday, adding to his overnight 106 not out with some sizzling strokes.

The right-hander passed 3,000 runs in his 46th Test when he reached 127, becoming the 21st West Indian to achieve that feat.

Chanderpaul started cautiously but emerged to join in the attractive stroke-play with five boundaries of his own. The left-hander spent 59 balls and 108 minutes over his 40 not out.

Sarwan, who was dropped on 21 on Saturday, had only one real moment of discomfort during the session, dropping to his knees in pain after being struck in the groin by Baisya just before the interval.

Baisya was the best of the visiting bowlers, with one for 82 off 22 overs.

Muralitharan Plans to Sue Former Indian Spin Great

Sri Lanka’s ace off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan is contemplating legal action against former Indian star spin bowler Bishen Bedi for writing “degrading” newspaper articles against him, his manager said yesterday.

“Bishen has always wrote very degrading articles calling Murali a cheat and all that stuff,” Muralitharan’s manager Kushil Gunasekera said.

“We have taken serious note of those articles and sent them to his lawyers.”

Bedi, a former Indian captain, known for making controversial statements, recently wrote in a leading sports magazine that Muralitharan used an illegal bowling action and that “cheating” is a “subcontinental trait,” Gunasekera said. “This is a very unfair comment to make,” he added.