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West Indies are heading to a defeat in the opening Test against Sri Lanka after they ended Day 3 at 67/2 in their second innings, still 166 runs behind Sri Lanka’s total of 484. Resuming their innings at the overnight score of 66/2, the visitors were bundled out for 251 in their first innings before skipper Angelo Mathews decided to enforce the follow-on.
West Indies got to know early on what to expect as Angelo Mathews decided to hand the ball to Rangan Herath, who had picked up the two West Indian wickets to fall so far, for the very first over on Day 3. The move paid dividends as the left-armer accounted for Marlon Samuels in his very next over in a slightly bizarre manner.
Samuels had survived a close LBW shout earlier in the over, but there was no escape second time out however as the ball struck the inside part of his right thigh before crashing into the stumps as he attempted a pull shot off a delivery way down the leg side. Nuwan Pradeep was also bowling outstandingly from the other end and was unfortunate not to pick up a wicket himself after the ball raced to the boundary after picking up an edge on two separate occasions.
The duo of Jermaine Blackwood and Darren Bravo managed to survive and put on a 41-run stand for the fourth wicket, but a lapse of concentration right after the drinks break led to the partnership being broken by Dhammika Prasad who had Blackwood caught at first slip by Siriwardana after a couple of fumbles.
Bravo continued to play calmly at the other end however and brought up his 12th Test fifty and fourth in five innings against Sri Lanka. He failed to capitalise on the knock though as he was dismissed right after thanks to a one-handed stunner by Dinesh Chandimal fielding at short mid-wicket. The visitors were now in serious trouble at 132/5, still 352 runs behind Sri Lanka.
West Indies looked to be in further trouble right after lunch as skipper Jason Holder was adjudged caught, but a decision review showed that Holder had missed the ball completely while going for the pull and had lobbed off his shoulder to the fielder at gully. The 23-year-old survived another scare later on as a mistimed pull shot landed in between the fine leg and square leg fielders.
His luck ran out soon after though as he was caught behind off the bowling of Prasad for 19. Denesh Ramdin fell soon becoming Nuwan Pradeep’s only scalp of the first innings leaving West Indies struggling at 171/7.
The late-order managed to put up a fight however as Jerome Taylor played a neat little cameo of 31 from as many balls forming a 46-run partnership with Kemar Roach before the former fell to an out-of-sorts Kaushal Silva, who had bowled a 10-ball over earlier in the day.
Roach added a further 34 runs for the ninth wicket with Devendra Bishoo before the former was out stumped to hand Herath his 23rd 5-wicket haul in Tests. The West Indian innings was wrapped up in the very next ball at 251 after Shannon Gabriel played a typical tailender's shot only to be out bowled leaving Bishoo stranded at 22.
With a first innings lead of 233, Mathews decided to enforce the follow-on and the visitors were in early trouble as Shai Hope inside-edged a delivery on to the stumps to give Milinda Siriwardana his maiden Test wicket. Kraigg Brathwaite and Bravo put on 42 runs for the second wicket before Herath returned to pick up his first scalp in the second innings.
Bravo and night-watchman Bishoo managed to see out the rest of the day without further trouble, but the hosts will be delighted at how things panned out as they will attempt to make early inroads on Day 4. As for the West Indies, they will be bitterly disappointed after all their batsmen except Gabriel managed to reach double figures before throwing away their wicket.
Brief scores:
Sri Lanka 484 all out (Karunaratne 186, Chandimal 151)
West Indies 1st innings 251 all out (Darren Bravo 50; Herath 6/68); 2nd innings 67/2
West Indies are 166 runs behind with eight wickets remaining
