NORTH SOUND – Three wickets – two to Kyle Mayers – revived West Indies in the final session, but a ground record, second-wicket stand between Oshada Fernando and Lahiru Thirimanne set the foundation for Sri Lanka to earn a lead of 153 in the first Test in Antigua.
Mayers and fellow pacer Kemar Roach ended the third day of the match at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium with two wickets apiece, but the Sri Lankans reached 255 for four in their second innings at the close.
After Jason Holder proved ineffective in his two overs immediately after tea, West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite turned to Mayers, his Barbados Pride teammate.
Bowling his medium-fast cutters, Mayers immediately broke the highest second wicket stand on the ground of 162 between Fernando and Thirimanne to spring West Indies back to life.
Mayers had Fernando caught behind for 91, playing forward to his first delivery, and dismissed Dinesh Chandimal in similar fashion for four in his next over.
Roach gave further proof of his dominance of left-handed batsmen in Tests, when he bowled Thirimanne for 76 – the batsman’s second half-century in the match – and the Sri Lankans stumbled from 170 for one to 189 for four in the space 45 balls.
West Indies met further resistance, however, in the final hour-and-a-half of the day, when Dhananjaya de Silva, not out on 46, and Pathum Nissanka, not out on 21, batted through until the close to put on 66 – unbroken – for the fifth wicket.
Mayers ended the day with two for 10 from fours overs and Roach finished with two for 28 from 13 overs.
Earlier, West Indies were bowled out for 271, replying to Sri Lanka’s first innings total of 169, about 10 minutes after the start of play.
The Windies resumed from their overnight total of 268 for eight, and Fernando bowled Cornwall for the top score of 61 with his third ball and trapped Shannon Gabriel lbw for a third-ball duck to bring the home team’s innings to a swift close.
Roach made the early breakthrough, when he had Sri Lanka captain and left-handed opener Dimuth Karunaratne caught at third slip for three in the fifth over of the innings.
But Holder offered Fernando a reprieve on 16, when he dropped him at leg-slip off Rahkeem Cornwall’s off-spin and the Windies spent almost four hours trying to dislodge him and Thirimanne before Mayers gave them the answer.
Summarised scores:
SRI LANKA 169 (Lahiru Thirimanne 70, Niroshan Dickwella 32, Dhananjaya 13, Dimuth Karunaratne 12; Jason Holder 17.4-6-27-5, Kemar Roach 3-47) and 255 for four (Oshada Fernando 91, Lahiru Thirimanne 76, Dhananjaya de Silva 46 not out, Pathum Nissanka 21 not out; Kyle Mayers 2-10, Kemar Roach 2-28).
WEST INDIES 271 (Rahkeem Cornwall 61, Joshua da Silva 46, Kyle Mayers 45, John Campbell 42, Nkrumah Bonner 31, Jason Holder 19; Suranga Lakmal 25-9-47-5, Vishwa Fernando 2-52, Dushmantha Chameera 2-71).
(AR)
