Sri Lankan Spinners put westindies batters in trouble

By Talat Masood Nov 23, 2021, 12:48 IST

GALLE: The West Indies were in big trouble in the first Test against Sri Lanka on Monday when they collapsed from 386 total to 113 for six on stumps on day two in response to the hosts' first innings. The tourists are chasing their very first test win in Sri Lanka, followed by 273 runs with four wickets in hand at the Galle International Stadium.

After Sri Lanka's pacemakers failed to take a wicket, the spinners made hay as Ramesh Mendis, the off-spinner, claimed three wickets and the left-armed orthodox duo Praveen Jayawickrama and Lasith Embuldeniya shared three wickets. Openers Kraigg Brathwaite and Jermaine Blackwood had added 46 runs for the first wicket before Embuldeniya delivered the breakthrough that locked Blackwood leg-before for 20.

Jayawickrama operated from the City End and Nkrumah Bonner (one) wore a glove for the first slip where Dhananjaya de Silva made a low catch. Mendis came up in the 32nd over, replacing Jayawickrama and claiming two wickets in two balls to get the West Indies into all sorts of trouble. He hit the last ball of his first overs when Brathwaite was caught slipping his leg.

Brathwaite had looked solid on his way to 41 of 115 deliveries with seven fours and successfully overturned a pre-tee decision. "Personally disappointed not to continue after launch," he told reporters. "Hopefully I'll make it next time." Mendis scored again in the first ball of his second overs when Shai Hope was caught well in the short leg by Oshada Fernando. He made 10.

Hope had come as a concussion replacement for Jeremy Solozano. On his test debut, Solozano was rushed to hospital the first morning when a thoroughbred train shot from Dimuth Karunaratne struck his helmet. He spent the night under surveillance but the scans showed no serious injuries other than a concussion and he returned to Galle and stayed at the team hotel for some time after his release.

Jayawickrama switched ends and came out of Fort End, the Netherlands for a second wicket when Jomel Warrican pushed for wicket keeper Dinesh Chandimal and then exhausted a review when the West Indies middle order collapsed, losing four wickets for 20 runs .

Earlier Monday the West Indies beat Sri Lanka for 386, Roston Chase claimed a five-wicket hat. Among his victims was Karunaratne, whose noble 147 came to an end when Joshua da Silva made a clever stump. The West Indies need 74 more runs to avoid continuation, but Karunaratne wants to play it safe.

“I don't think it's the most sensible thing to do. Nobody wants to be the last to hit in Galle, ”he said. “We have to roll it out first and then put a couple of runs on the board. It will also give the bowlers some air to breathe. " Karunaratne was involved in over 200 stands with Pathum Nissanka (56) and Dhananjaya de Silva (61). Chandimal has chipped 45 runs.

Sri Lanka won toss

Sri Lanka 1st Innings

Pathum Nissanka c Cornwall b Gabriel 56

Dimuth (c) st †Da Silva b Chase 147

Oshada Fernando c Bonner b Chase 3

Angelo Mathews c Holder b Chase 3

Dhananjaya hit wicket b Gabriel 61

Chandimal † c Cornwall b Chase 45

Ramesh c †Da Silva b Warrican 13

Suranga Lakmal lbw b Warrican 11

Dushmantha c Brathwaite b Warrican 3

Lasith c Blackwood b Chase 17

Praveen Jayawickrama not out 8

Extras: (b 5, lb 6, nb 8) 19

TOTAL: (133.5 Ov,) 386/10

Fall: 1-139 (Pathum Nissanka, 49.1 ov), 2-164 (Oshada Fernando, 57.3 ov), 3-170 (Angelo Mathews, 65.1 ov), 4-2-8-1 (Dhananjaya de Silva, 94.4 ov), 5-296 (Dimuth Karunaratne, 99.5 ov), 6-331 (Ramesh Mendis, 112.6 ov), 7-355 (Suranga Lakmal, 124.4 ov), 8-361 (Dinesh Chandimal, 127.4 ov), 9-361 (Dushmantha Chameera, 28.1 ov), 10-386 (Lasith Embuldeniya, 133.5 ov)

Bowling: Shannon Gabriel 19-2-69- 2 Jason Holder 19-9-24-0 Rahkeem Cornwall 27-3-91-0 Kyle Mayers 3-0-9-0 Jomel Warrican 32-5-87-3 Roston Chase 28.5-3-83-5 Jermaine Blackwood 1-0-6-0 Kraigg Brathwaite 4-0-6-0

West Indies 1st Innings

Kraigg (c) c Nissanka b Mendis 41

Jermaine lbw b Embuldeniya 20

Nkrumah c de Silva b Jayawickrama 1

Shai Hope c Fernando b Mendis 10

Roston Chase c Fernando b Mendis 2

Jomel c †Chandimal b Jayawickrama 1

Kyle Mayers not out 22

Jason Holder not out 1

Extras: (b 3, lb 9, nb 2, w 1) 15

Total: (42 Ov,) 113/6

Yet to bat: Jeremy Solozano, Joshua Da Silva †, Rahkeem Cornwall, Shannon Gabriel

Fall: 1-46 (Jermaine Blackwood, 20.1 ov), 2-51 (Nkrumah Bonner, 23.5 ov), 3-80 (Kraigg Brathwaite, 31.6 ov), 4-83 (Shai Hope, 33.1 ov), 5-86 (Jomel Warrican, 36.5 ov), 6-100 (Roston Chase, 39.6 ov)

Bowling: Suranga Lakmal 5-1-6-0 Dushmantha Chameera 4-0-8-0 Lasith Embuldeniya 15-4-39-1 Praveen Jayawickrama 12-4-25-2 Ramesh Mendis 6-1-23-3

Test Debut: Jeremy Solozano (WI)

Umpires: Kumar Dharmasena, Ruchira Palliyaguruge.