West Indies tour of Sri Lanka 2021 News

The opening day of the second Test between Sri Lank and West Indies at the Galle International Stadium was marred by rain and could not start at due time. In the end, it could eventually start at 03:00 pm Local time and only 34.4 overs could be bowled before the end of the day’s play was declared by the umpires due to bad light. Pathum Nissanka, the opening batter from Sri Lanka stole whatever limelight that was left to be stolen after the great rainfall at the picturesque stadium in the backdrop of the Galle Fort on one side and the Indian ocean on the rest of the three sides. The right-handed batter scored his third fifty in only his sixth Test match. The 23-year-old remained unbeaten on 61 off 109 balls and was supported by Oshada Fernando at the other end who came in to bat after the fall of Sri Lankan skipper Dimuth Karunaratne’s wicket was unbeaten on two off 10 deliveries. Roston Chase picked the only wicket to fall, getting Karunratne caught and bowled on 48. Charith Asalanka made his test debut in this game and he was played in the playing XI in place of fast bowler Dushamantha Chameera. On the other hand, West Indies also made two changes in their XI with Veerasammy Permaul and Kemar Roach coming in for Rahkeem Cornwall and Shanon Gabriel respectively.

Charith Asalanka, who was the hero for the Sri Lankan team with the bat in the recently concluded T20 World Cup, has been handed his Test cap. The left-arm batter and right-arm slow bowler was given his Test cap by skipper Dimuth Karunratane. The 24-year-old, who has played eight ODIs and 10 T20Is so far for the national team will become Test player number 157 for the island nation. He is making his debut in the second Test of the two-match series that Sri Lanka is hosting against West Indies as part of the World Test Championship 2021-23. The Sri Lankans lead the series 1-0 heaving won the last game at the same venue of Galle. Asalanka, who replaced Dinesh Chandimal in the T20 World Cup playing xi, hit 231 runs in six innings at an average of 46. For his first Test, the Galle born has replaced fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera. Sri Lanka are going into the Test with just one pacer. On the other hand, West Indies replaced Shanon Gabriel and Rahkeem Cornwall with Kemar Roach and Veerasammy Permaul respectively.

Lasith Embuldiya was able to break the resistance of the Windies lower order as he slid past the tail after breaking through two crucial partnerships involving Nkrumah Bonner, who eventually remained unbeaten on 68 off 20 balls. West Indies started positively from their overnight score of 52-6 and both Bonner and his partners at the other end, Joshua Da Silva played some beautiful shots indeed 66 runs to their existing 34 run partnership to complete a 100 run partnership for the seventh wicket, taking West Indies from 18-6 to 118. However, Lasith Embulduniya broke through just ahead of the Lunch and git Da Silva out for 54 off 129 balls. Bonner then tried to stick together yet another partnership with Rahkeem Cornwall. The two added 31 runs for the eighth wicket but most importantly played out 14 overs and were threatening to take the game to a draw especially with the clouds around the stadium darkening with each passing ball. But even under threat of rain and the dogged approach by Cornwall and Bonner, the left-arm spinner Praveen Jayawickrama, who hadn’t picked nay wicket in the fourth innings till then, got Cornwall caught by Suranga Lakmal and thus broke the partnership. Post that, Embulduniya picked the last two wickets of Jomel Warrican and Shanon Gabriel to get West Indies all out for 160. Courtesy of the last two wickets Embulduniya completed his fourth five-wicket haul in Test cricket. The 25-year-old also equalled Ajanatha Mendis’ record for the second-fastest 50 wickets in test cricket for a Sri Lankan bowler as he reached the milestone in this Test, only his 12th of the career. Dilruwan Perera is the fastest Sri Lankan to reach 50 wickets as he reached the milestone in 11 Tests. The second Test between the two nations will begin on November 29 at the same venue. Sri Lanka would look to do a clean sweep and strengthen their position in the World Test Championship 2021-23.

When West Indies finished the fourth day on a score of 52-6 with Sri Lanka needing only four wickets on the last day at Galle to win the first Test of the two-match series between the two teams, nobody would have given the Caribbeans any chance to survive even the first hour. However, surprising all the cricket pundits, not only did Nkrumah Bonner and Joshua Da Silva, the unbeaten pair from the fourth day survive the first hour, but even went on to add 66 more runs to their 34 run partnership from the previous day and thus add 100 runs for the sixth wicket. Da Silva did get out just before lunch, but not before completing a fighting fifty. Most importantly, he played 129 balls to score his 54 runs. However, Sri Lanka’s thought that they might now induce false shots from the upcoming tail were dashed as Rahkeem Cornwall joined with Bonner and the pairing have so far added 20 runs and most importantly have kept Sri Lankan spinners wicketless for 11 overs. Bonner also completed his fifty, his third in Test cricket courtesy of this partnership. At the time of writing this piece, Bonner was batting on 55 off 190 balls, while Cornwall remained unbeaten on 7 off 35 balls. Apart from some dogged batting approach from the West Indian batters, Sri Lanka would also have to keep an eye on the skies as they are filled with grey clouds threatening to burst at any time and ruin the home side’s chances of a victory. As of now, 47 overs are still to be bowled and West Indies are 140-7.

The Sri Lankan spinners look threateningly beautiful on the Glle wicket which was proving to be a graveyard for the West Indies top order. The ball which got the wicket of Jason, Holder which was also the last wicket to fall on day four of the first Test between the two sides, was a perfect example of a straighter one from an off-spinner. It straightened ever so slightly and clipped the off stump that Holder stood holding the pose in disbelief. It was indeed a beauty of a ball. However, to Holder’s wicket, five other Windies batter had fallen to spin, a series of dismissals that started on the team score of only three runs in the fourth innings, chasing a target of 348. The first to go was the Caribbean skipper Kraigg Brathwaite who was trapped in front by Mendis. Jermaine Blackwood, the next most experienced pure batter in the team fell next as he was caught by Angelo Mathews off Lasith Embulduniya. The second wicket fell on the fourth ball of the seventh over at the team score of 11, but what transpired in the next five overs threatened to get West Indies bowled out for probably the lowest total in Test history as they lost the next four wickets with just an addition of seven runs. Mendis was the wrecker in chief, claiming three out of the four wi kets. From 11-1, the Windies were 18-6 in a span of 30 balls. However, after this storm, there was finally some resistance as Joshua da Silva and Nkrumah Bonner put up unbeaten 34 runs for the seventh wicket and saw the Windies through the fourth day. The day was called early due to bad light and Sri Lankan bowlers will get another go on day five of the Test. With only four wickets left, it would be interesting to see how West Indies fare in their resistance. Earlier in the day, Sri Lanka bowlers rolled over the West Indian first innings with meagre addition of thor overnight total of 224-9. Batting in their second innings, skipper Dimuth Karunaratne and experienced Mathews guided the team to 190 in just 40 overs and gave their bowlers a real shot at getting 10 wickets in the remaining overs. Karunaratne scored 83 off 104 balls while Mathews made an unbeaten 69 off 84 balls.

The persistent rainfall at Galle made sure that West Indies, despite a top-order collapse, remained alive in the first Test against hosts Sri Lanka. At the end of the second day, the Windies were 224-9 with wicket-keeper batter Joshua da Silva playing on unbeaten 11 and number XI Shanon Gabriel yet to arrive at the crease. Starting their innings at the overnight score of 113-6, the Windies pair of Jason Holder and Kyle Mayers put on resistance as they added 50 runs more to their existing 13-run partnership to take it to 63, the highest of the West Indian innings thus far. Mayers got a bit carried away and was removed by part-time option Dhanajaya de Silva. Holder followed suit and West Indies were once again in a spot of bother at 175-8, still, 11 runs behind the target of 186 to avoid the follow-on. It was then that Rahkeem Cornwall and da Silva got together and added 49 for the ninth wicket before Cornwall was trapped by Suranga Lakmal. It was at the same time that rain hit the ground and went on till the end of the play was declared by the umpires. At the end of day-2 of the first Test, the men from the Caribbean are still 162 runs behind from the Sri Lankan total of 386 runs.