2nd Test: West Indies Ready for Another Trial by Spin against Sri Lanka

Galle:  After losing the first Test by 187 runs against Sri Lanka, West Indies will be looking to overcome the disappointment and bounce back in the second match starting at the Galle International Stadium on Monday.

West Indies, who were bowled out for 160 in the second innings, will look for a much-improved performance. Both the batters and bowlers of the West Indies left a lot to be desired in the first match. In both innings, the visitors lost their first six wickets within a span of 54 runs and 18 runs respectively.

They will take some positives into the next game, with the spinners taking 13 of the 14 wickets that fell while the lower order showed some grit in both innings.

Sri Lanka, on the other hand, ticked almost all the boxes in the first Test. Dimuth Karunaratne led from the front with a century and half-century in the two innings while the spinners had the Windies batters in tangles throughout the game.

Sri Lanka will be looking to complete a whitewash and extend their stay on top of the ICC World Test Championship standings, where they currently occupy the first spot.

Sri Lankan spinners ripped through the West Indies batting in both innings to help Sri Lanka take a 1-0 lead in the two-match Test series.

Opting to bat first, captain Dimuth Karunaratne’s rich vein of form continued with 147 in the first innings. He was well supported by fifties Pathum Nissanka and Dhananjaya de Silva as Sri Lanka posted 386 in the first innings.

In response, West Indies were bundled out for 230. West Indies were 100/6 at one stage before vital contributions from the lower order helped them reduce the lead to 156. The spinners accounted for nine of the wickets that fell, with Praveen Jayawickrama picking four.

Karunaratne and Angelo Mathews scored half-centuries in the second innings as Sri Lanka declared on 191, setting Windies a target of 348.

West Indies’s chase got off to a poor start as they collapsed and were reduced to 18/6 late on the fourth day, with Ramesh Mendis scalping four. Nkrumah Bonner and Joshua Da Silva resisted with a 100-run partnership to delay the inevitable. Lasith Embuldeniya soon ran through the rest of the lower order to complete a five-for as Sri Lanka won by 187 runs.

(IANS)