COLOMBO – Fast bowler Dhammika Prasad picked up four wickets as hosts Sri Lanka bundled out West Indies for 163 to take a first innings lead on the second day of the second and final Test at the P Sara Oval on Friday.
Off-spinner Dilruwan Perera, who was preferred over Tharindu Kaushal for the match, provided good support by picking up the last three West Indies wickets to give the hosts a lead of 37 runs.
Play was delayed by 30 minutes due to a wet outfield after overnight rain and Prasad made full use of the overcast conditions, bowling an impeccable line and length to extract movement off the pitch to trouble the West Indies batsmen.
After dismissing the hosts for 200 on the opening day, West Indies would have hoped for a solid start from their batsmen after resuming on 17-1 in the morning.
Nightwatchman Devendra Bishoo (13) was the first to fall, edging a wide delivery from Prasad, who had dismissed opener Shai Hope on Thursday, to wicketkeeper Kusal Perera.
West Indies’ batting mainstay Darren Bravo (two) then chopped Prasad onto his stumps to put the touring side in further trouble.
Opener Kraigg Brathwaite (47) tried to rebuild the innings with a fourth-wicket stand of 39 with Marlon Samuels (13) before the latter fell in the penultimate over before lunch.
All-rounder Milinda Siriwardana, who top-scored for his side with 68 in the first innings, got Samuels to edge to Angelo Mathews at slip off his left-arm spin bowling.
Siriwardana took his second wicket when Brathwaite fell shortly after lunch with the batsmen unable to overturn the umpire’s decision of giving him out caught behind.
Prasad then returned for another spell in the afternoon session and took out Jermaine Blackwood, who made 92 in the last test, for his fourth wicket of the innings.
West Indies captain Jason Holder (21) used his power and reach to hit a few boundaries and bring down the deficit but became Dilruwan Perera’s first victim of the innings.
The off-spinner then dismissed Jerome Taylor (one) and debutant Jomel Warrican (one) to finish off the innings at the stroke of the tea break.
Hosts Sri Lanka won the opening Test at Galle by an innings and six runs to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series. (Reuters)
