1st Test
West Indies 414 for 8 dec and 223 for 7 dec beat Sri Lanka 185 and 226 by 226 runs
Sri Lanka hurtled to defeat either side of lunch on the final day, losing the last five of their wickets within 25 deliveries, for eight runs, as West Indies went 1-0 up in the three-Test series. The telling blow had been struck earlier in the day, by Shannon Gabriel, who has been outstanding in this Test. He pitched a ball just short-of-a-length to centurion Kusal Mendis, got the ball to erupt, and drew the outside edge. Though for much of the morning, wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich had been collecting balls at knee height or below, so menacing was this delivery, that he had had to complete the catch with arms outstretched over his head.
Of the other Sri Lanka batsmen seen on day five, only Lahiru Gamage the nightwatchman showed any substantial resistance. He played out 49 balls for three runs, deadbatting almost anything that came his way, until he was eventually trapped in front of the stumps by a Devendra Bishoo googly. Everyone else fell in a heap.
The win was special because West Indies' bowlers were outstanding on a pitch that was never particularly treacherous. In the fourth innings, Roston Chase finished up with the best figures of 4 for 15, though two of those wickets were those of tailenders. More impressive were Bishoo, who took 3 for 48, and Gabriel, who was intense in patches in both innings. His match haul was 4 for 100 - figures that do not do him justice.
Upon resumption in the morning, Mendis had been secure, moving smartly to his fifth Test century, with a flick to the deep square leg boundary. He celebrated with little fuss, knowing perhaps that his team still needed many more runs from him. It wasn't to be. That Gabriel ball was nigh unplayable, and it was only because he was in good touch that he got an edge to it. No other Sri Lanka batsman crossed fifty in this Test - woeful returns, given the nature of the surface.
Of Sri Lanka's day five dismissals though, perhaps it was Dinesh Chandimal's that was the most reprehensible. He had resumed his innings on 15, having retired ill the previous day, with early symptoms of sunstroke. He was cautious for the majority of his day five stay, only venturing a boundary off a Bishoo long hop. However, he lost his temperament and his wicket an over before lunch.
Aiming to slam a Chase length ball over midwicket, he ended up miscuing the stroke badly, and looping a catch to near mid-on, where a running Kraigg Brathwaite completed the catch. Later that over, Niroshan Dickwella was struck in front of the stumps by a slider. He burned Sri Lanka's final review in desperation, out for 19.
The tail then went quickly. Herath gloved Bishoo short leg, not long after lunch. Next over, Chase had Nos. 10 and 11 caught behind - though Suranga Lakmal was unlucky to be given out, as he had not in fact made contact. Nevertheless, with all Sri Lanka's specialist batsmen out before lunch, these were merely the last rites. The final margin of victory was an enormous 226 runs. The hosts having run the match from the second day onwards, it was a West Indies domination.
2nd Test
Day 1
Sri Lanka 253
West Indies 2/0 (2 ov)
West Indies trail by 251 runs with 10 wickets remaining in the innings
Shannon Gabriel delivered a brutal spell with the new ball, then later came back to blast out the middle order to take 5 for 59. Dinesh Chandimal hit a terrific 119 not out off 185 balls, but had little support from the rest of the batting order. The result: another day dominated by West Indies, who shot the opposition out for 253, before their openers survived the two overs before stumps unscathed. The Gros Islet surface rewarded seam bowling, but had largely appeared decent for batting. In fact, Sri Lanka had chosen to bat first, expecting big runs.
It was Gabriel's early spell that defined the day. Second ball, he squared up debutant Mahela Udawatte, who sent a low catch toward third slip, where Jason Holder completed an excellent, diving low-take. Two overs late, after a confident Dhananjaya de Silva had hit two square boundaries off Gabriel's short balls, he claimed de Silva's wicket with a beauty. Having the ball jag towards the right-hander off a back-of-a-length, Gabriel struck de Silva on the forearm, watched the ball ricochet into the stumps, he gloated as he jogged past the injured batsman. De Silva had to be walked off the ground by a physio holding an ice pack, but although there were initial fears that a bone could have been fractured, X-rays have cleared de Silva of any serious injury, team manager Asanka Gurusinha said. As his arm is merely bruised, de Silva is likely to bat again in the second innings.
Gabriel took three more wickets, in much later spells. He had a length ball leap at Roshen Silva, who could only edge it to Holder again, at third slip. He drew Niroshan Dickwella into a drive and had him caught in the gully. Finally, he fired one in at the pads of Suranga Lakmal, who could not get his bat in the way, and was standing right in front of the stumps. This was Gabriel's third five-wicket haul, the other two having come against Pakistan.
Chandimal's hundred was in some ways predictable, though given the manner in which the remainder of the batting order folded, it was invaluable as well. He hit all but one of his fours behind square, but was proactive when there were singles or twos for the taking. It was not a whirlwind innings like, his knock against India in 2015. It wasn't a stonewall, like his century in Abu Dhabi last year. This was something in the middle, and in this game, that is what his teammates needed. He had had two clear reprieves in the innings though. On 14, he was dropped by Devon Smith at second slip, off the bowling of Miguel Cummins. On 119, he top-edged a flick to the man at point, only for bowler Kemar Roach to have been shown to have overstepped. Towards the end of the innings, he even launched Roach over long off for six.
Elsewhere, West Indies' bowlers ran rampant. Kusal Mendis had batted alluringly for 45, before trying a swat off his hips, which ended up looping into the air, to be caught by wicketkeeper Dowrich as he ran towards square leg. Holder was the bowler. Later in the day, Roach knocked out Nos. 10 and 11 in quick time, finishing with 4 for 49 himself.
Beyond Chandimal's 67-run stand with Mendis, there were no fifty-plus associations among the Sri Lanka batsmen. Through the whole innings, only Mendis and Kusal Perera could cross 30. When their innings ended, West Indies openers Kraigg Brathwaite and Smith came to the crease, and saw out the final two overs.
Day 2
Sri Lanka 253
West Indies 118/2
West Indies trail by 135 runs with 8 wickets remaining in the innings
Lahiru Kumara delivered 13.3 hostile overs, and Kasun Rajitha was probing on Test debut, but a half-century from Devon Smith drove West Indies foreward on a rain-hit second day. They stand only 135 runs behind Sri Lanka, with eight wickets still in hand. Only 42.3 overs were delivered in the day, the rain arriving during lunch to wash out much of the afternoon and evening sessions, before stumps were eventually drawn due to bad light at 5:55 pm.
Snith was measured for much of the day, hitting only four fours (two of which were edges past the slip cordon) and a six in his 53 not out off 134 balls. He had his outside edge beaten on plenty of occasions, even through the last few overs of the day, but he did enough to survive, and did not miss out when genuinely poor balls were on offer. The half-century is his seventh overall, and his first since April 2015. Smith was especially strong on the legside in this innings, once advancing to launch Akila Dananjaya over long on for six.
Kumara, perhaps, will consider himself unlucky for having only collected figures of 1 for 48. He troubled each of the four West Indies batsmen who came to the crease on day two, often surprising them with the bounce and pace he generated. He touched 145kph on occasion, generally aiming at the batsmen's ribs. His breakthrough came very late in the day - Kusal Mendis diving to his right from second slip to complete an excellent low take off Kieran Powell, who had attempted to drive that ball. In the first session, Kumara could easily have had Kraigg Brathwaite lbw, with a ball that jagged in from well outside off stump. The ball had hit Brathwaite above the knee-roll though, and umpire Aleem Dar felt it was probably going over the stumps.
Rajitha was not quite so aggressive, but there was obviousl skill to the manner in which he operated. He moved the ball both ways off the pitch, and frequently went looking for that edge, his length often full and his line always testing. He had made the first breakthrough, shortly before lunch. Angling a ball in at Brathwaite, Rajitha got it to straighten just a fraction. The result was a feather edge to the wicketkeeper - that touch so light that Brathwaite even reviewed believing he had not hit the ball. DRS disagreed, however. Brathwaite was out for 22 off 79 balls, having gritted his way through almost the entire first session.
So disciplined had Sri Lanka's quicks been in the first session that West Indies made only 63 runs in 25 overs. The scoring rate increased after the first extended rain break, but went south again in the final 6.2-over stretch of play.
Encouragingly for Sri Lanka, there was decent turn for their offspinner Dananjaya on day two. Nevertheless, West Indies are still completely in control of this game, particularly with their strong middle order still alive in the first innings.
Day 3
Sri Lanka 253 and 34 for 1 (Udawatte 11*) trail West Indies 300 (Smith 61, Dowrich 55, Kumara 4-86, Rajitha 3-49) by 13 runs
Sri Lanka's quicks scythed through the West Indies lower order, and finished only 13 runs behind for the loss of one wicket by stumps. But it was what they did at the start of the day that loomed over this game. For two hours, they refused to take the field, and when they did, it was only "under protest". The reason? Match officials had charged them with ball tampering, slapping on a five-run penalty, and changing the ball that had been used on day one. Sri Lanka's coach and team management were seen in animated discussions with match officials, after being told of the tampering allegations shortly before the teams were set to take the field. They were eventually convinced to resume play, but deny any "wrongdoing" according to a board release. An inquiry on these charges will be held after stumps on Saturday.
Though there is a major controversy brewing, this is now a finely-balanced Test, the visitors fighting back hard, after having allowed West Indies to take control of the match over the first two days. The definitive period of play was the 20.3 overs they delivered with the second new ball, either side of tea. In that period they took the six final West Indies wickets for 59 runs - Lahiru Kumara taking three of those wickets, to finish with an impressive 4 for 84 on a day in which he had bowled deliveries as fast as 149kph. Kasun Rajitha also collected encouraging figures in his first Test innings, removing Devendra Bishoo and Jason Holder in a single intense spell, to end with 3 for 49.
The pitch, though, remained helpful for the quicks, especially when they bowled with the new ball, and Sri Lanka will know they are in for another fight tomorrow. Sri Lanka had just under an hour to bat at the end of the day, and were frequently in trouble through this period. Kusal Perera played a stroke-filled 23-ball innings, collecting three boundaries, and miscuing other aerial shots. He was out for 20, leaden-footedly edging Shannon Gabriel to the wicketkeeper. The only batsmen who can be said to have prospered for a meaningful length of time on day three were Shane Dowrich, who hit 55, and Roston Chase, who joined Dowrich for a 78-run fifth-wicket stand.
Where in Trinidad Sri Lanka had allowed West Indies' lower order to compile a formidable first-innings total almost on their own, it was Kumara's intensity and Rajitha's perseverance that enabled the visitors to shut this West Indies innings down in relatively quick time. Dowrich and Chase had built an ominous stand and had taken West Indies to within 14 runs of Sri Lanka's first-innings total with six wickets still in hand, when the second new ball became available. Kumara struck the first blow, having Chase caught at short midwicket for 44. He would later return to knock out the last two wickets, nailing Kemar Roach in front of leg stump with a yorker, and having Shannon Gabriel top edge a heave off the short ball.
In between, Rajitha and Suranga Lakmal moved the ball consistently off the seam, and all three bowlers drew plenty of false strokes - the lower order seeming to play and miss more often than they made connection.
Earlier in the day, only 12.3 overs had been possible because of Sri Lanka's refusal to take the field. When they did begin to play, Kumara was seemingly channelling the ire felt in the Sri Lanka dressing room, sending down a barrage of hostile short deliveries at the overnight pair. Smith was unruffled by the strategy, and batted with caution, much as he had on the previous day. Shai Hope was not as confident, and was eventually out edging Lakmal to the cordon for 19. Subtlety - rather than menace - would later be the end of Smith. Expecting an offbreak from Akila Dananjaya, who was operating around the wicket to the left-hander, Smith was struck on the pad by a slider that would have gone on to hit the stumps. He had made a vital 61, however. Not only was Smith's the highest individual score in West Indies' total of 300, it was an important innings for a batsman who is attempting to win a consistent place in this team, at the age of 36.
Day 4
Sri Lanka 253 & 334/8 * (89 ov)
West Indies 300
Day 4: Sri Lanka lead by 287 runs with 2 wickets remaining
Two dashing innings - a confident 87 off 117 from Kusal Mendis, and a stroke filled 62 off 70 from Niroshan Dickwella - propelled Sri Lanka to a 287-run lead in St Lucia, edging them ahead in this match. Although Shannon Gabriel bowled spiritedly through the fourth day, collecting figures of 6 for 57 to take his match haul to 11 for 116, Sri Lanka still have two wickets remaining in their second innings. Only twice in this century have West Indies chased a higher score for victory. That the visitors found themselves in such a healthy position is a testament to their fight on day four, having found themselves effectively four wickets down with a lead of only one run, in the first hour of play.
Two big partnerships built this Sri Lanka innings. The first was the 117-run fifth-wicket stand between Mendis and a lucky Dinesh Chandimal, who could have been out twice on his way to 39 off 112 balls. The second was the 99-run association between Dickwella and Roshen Silva, after Mendis and Chandimal had fallen within 10 overs of one another. Silva made his first significant score of the series, hitting 48 off 115, while Mendis and Dickwella batted more aggressively at the other end. Both Silva and Dickwella were out to the second new ball, but late in the day, Suranga Lakmal and Akila Dananjaya put on a useful unbeaten partnership amounting to 27. As that second new ball is only nine overs old, however, West Indies will hope to knock out the last two wickets before the lead stretches to 300 on the fifth morning.
Gabriel has been the best bowler in the series by a distance, and Cricket West Indies' recent decision to switch to the Dukes cricket ball appears to be suiting him well. He sometimes attempted to intimidate the batsmen, sending plenty at the ribs and at the throat, but it was the ball that he seamed in from outside off stump that brought him the most joy on day four. He struck nightwatchman Kasun Rajitha in front of the stumps in his first over of the day, then bowled Mendis off an inside edge much later. Roshen Silva was also out to a ball that bounced and nipped back at him more than he expected - Shane Dowrich snatching a tough chance close to the ground after Silva had gloved it.
Only Dananjaya de Silva and Dickwella got out to Gabriel deliveries pitched on fuller lengths. Dananjaya was caught at slip attempting an expansive drive - the ball seaming away to take the outside edge. Dickwella merely slapped a full ball into the hands of mid-off, after Gabriel had pitched on a leg stump line.
Where during his Trinidad hundred Mendis had had reprieves early in his innings, in this knock he was secure and polished. In the morning, he thwarted Gabriel's short deliveries, defused Miguel Cummins and Roach, while taking a particular liking to Devendra Bishoo's legspin, which he hit for 18 off 13 balls. As usual, he favoured the sweep to the spinners, and scored all but 12 of his total runs through the legside, the most attractive of his strokes an elegant push off Roach through mid-on for four early in the day. After lunch, he was especially confident. He whipped Roach over the leg side for six on two occasions, and swivel-pulled Jason Holder to the midwicket boundary for four. Some of the pressure he exerted on the bowlers through his positive approach had sucked some venom out of the West Indies effort, especially earlier in the day.
Dickwella had a slightly easier task, not having to face the newer ball, but his innings was nevertheless important, after he had arrived at the crease with Sri Lanka in some peril. He scored most of his runs in the arc between third man and cover, audaciously carving two boundaries over the slip cordon whenever he was given some width. But even though he struck at 89, less than half of Dickwella's runs came from boundaries. The big shots may have been the most memorable, but this was an innings held together by sharp singles and twos.
Of the two supporting acts, Silva was better than Chandimal in this innings. For the first time in Caribbean, Silva managed to ride that sharp bounce that the West Indies quicks tend to generate, and stuck around while Dickwella scored more quickly at the other end. Chandimal was also reticent, only hitting a single boundary in an innings that stretched to 112 deliveries. He should have been out twice in one Gabriel over in the last half hour of the first session. First, he was struck in front of the stumps, but the appeal was turned down because two noises were heard. As it turned out, the second noise was the ball hitting his back pad, and had West Indies reviewed, they would have had Chandimal out for 21. Two balls later, Gabriel sent a bouncer at his throat and had Chandimal caught at gully. But thanks to Kusal Mendis, who had watched Gabriel overstep and prompted the umpire to check the front foot, Chandimal survived.
All this, after West Indies had threatened to run away with this Test with their early-morning surge. Inside the first seven overs of the day, they had taken three wickets - those of Rajitha, de Silva and Mahela Udawatte. Having had Sri Lanka 47 for 4, they will perhaps be disappointed that the score has now swelled to 334 for 8.
Day 5
Sri Lanka 253 (Chandimal 119*, Mendis 45, Gabriel 5-59, Roach 4-49) and 342 (Mendis 87, Dickwella 62, Gabriel 8-62) drew with West Indies 300 (Smith 61, Kumara 4-86) and 147 for 5 (Brathwaite 59*, Hope 39, Rajitha 2-23, Lakmal 2-48)
Sri Lanka had dismissed the stubborn Shai Hope soon after tea, giving themselves one final chance to surge to victory, but then the rains arrived, followed by bad light. In the end, West Indies drew the match with five wickets in hand, with 32.3 overs lost to the conditions. Perhaps Sri Lanka will rue the two hours they had spent off the field, protesting the ball-tampering charge on Saturday. Another 25 overs of play could have seen them scythe through the West Indies lower order, as they had in the first innings.
Though the rain clouds sealed the draw, it was Kraigg Brathwaite who had set it all up. He was secure in defense and resolute in attitude right through the day, refusing to be shaken by Sri Lanka's short-ball bursts, declining to be lured into loose drives, and capably defusing the spinners, who even on day five did not gain substantial turn off this pitch. Brathwaite's innings soaked up 172 balls, moving to 58 not out during its course. Hope resisted best in his company. The two of them saw out 35.5 of the 60.3 overs Sri Lanka bowled at them in the day. Hope's innings was split into two, because he had had to go off after being hit in the ribs by Lahiru Kumara, but he nevertheless played a vital hand, batting out 115 balls while scoring 39.
Sri Lanka will likely be disappointed that even the overs that were available to them had proved insufficient. By lunch, they had had three wickets, and seemed set to surge quickly to victory, their quicks running hot. The first West Indies wickets had not taken long to come - Kasun Rajitha seaming a delivery away from left-hander Devon Smith to have him nick one to second slip in the fourth over of the innings, before moving one into Kieran Powell to have him caught at square leg. Before they had even got to double figures, West Indies were two down. Later in the session, after Hope had been struck and forced to exit the field, Roston Chase had his off stump uprooted by Suranga Lakmal, who set the batsman up with a succession of away-seamers, before sneaking a straight ball through his defences.
Then came the main Brathwaite-Hope stand. Although obviously still sore, Hope negotiated a fresh short-ball examination with aplomb, even smacking a Lakmal bouncer for six in front of square. There were times when he played and missed, and others when he miscued shots, but the chances never went to hand. Brathwaite seemed much more in control, getting plenty of bat even to the balls that surprised him either by staying low, or leaping alarmingly. Inconsistent bounce had become a feature of this surface through the day. It was the second session, in which West Indies only lost the wicket of Shane Dowrich to the offspin of Akila Dananjaya, that the hosts really laid the groundwork for this result. Hope and Brathwaite put on 53 for the fifth wicket.
Fourth ball after tea, Lakmal got a ball to cut in at Hope and had it ricochet off his elbow into the stumps, but although suddenly Sri Lanka were alive again, the weather soon intervened. First the rains washed out about 78 minutes of play. Although the teams took the field again, only 2.3 overs were possible before the umpires hauled them off again for bad light. The final delivery was proof that there was still life in this pitch - Jason Holder struck in the box by a ball that jagged in off a length.
But before Sri Lanka even began bowling, Shannon Gabriel had imposed himself on the day again, as he has throughout these first two Tests. He blasted out the last two Sri Lanka wickets, to claim an exceptional match haul of 13 for 121 - the third best in West Indies' storied bowling history. He struck Suranga Lakmal in front of the stumps before Sri Lanka had got off the mark for the day, then bowled Dananjaya twice, in his second over. The first of those dismissals was wrongly deemed illegitimate, umpire Ian Gould signalling a no-ball, even though a sliver of Gabriel's boot had landed behind the line.
3rd Test
Day 1
West Indies 132 for 5 (Dowrich 60*, Holder 33*, Rajitha 2-36, Lakmal 2-42) v Sri Lanka
For the second time this series, Sri Lanka's fast bowlers had West Indies on the mat, only to concede the advantage as the day progressed. The thorn on both occasions was Shane Dowrich, the spunky wicketkeeper-batsman who stayed unbeaten on 60, at the end of the first day at the Kensington Oval that saw only 46.3 overs being bowled because of rain interruptions.
In Port-of-Spain, he put on 90 for the sixth wicket with Jason Holder to set up a tall first-innings score in a match-winning effort. In Bridgetown, in the Caribbean's first ever pink-ball Test, the pair's unbroken 79-run stand revived West Indies from a hopeless 53 for 5 to 132 for 5 at stumps. This after Holder elected to bat on what wicketkeeper-turned-broadcaster Jeff Dujon described as "the greenest Barbados surface" he had seen.
Green as it was, there were patches of brown on either ends that made life difficult for batsmen, with certain deliveries rearing up and adding to the unpredictability of the pink ball. This made the sixth-wicket association all the more compelling, as they provided a batting lesson for their floundering top order, who kept an agile slip cordon busy all afternoon.
Dowrich's seventh Test fifty was his second 50-plus score of the series, after his maiden Test century in the first Test. He was particularly severe on the short ball, unafraid to pull in front of square, particularly off Lahiru Kumara - whose fastest delivery was clocked at 148.1kph. Holder, meanwhile, was solid and composed to make a steady 33. The pair's calculated approach, particularly under lights, stood out, even though Sri Lanka could claim the day as their own.
Leading in Dinesh Chandimal's absence was Suranga Lakmal, Sri Lanka's 16th Test captain, and he couldn't have asked for a better bargain. A surface prepared largely keeping in mind the longevity of the pink ball played right into his hands as he struck in the very first over - Devon Smith's feeble poke at an away-going delivery lapped up at third slip by Dhananjaya de Silva.
This was just the start of a procession, as Lakmal would strike again in his third over when Kraigg Brathwaite received an unplayable delivery that reared up and had him arching back to try and get out of the way. The ball lobbed off the glove even as an athletic Danushka Gunathilaka, replacing Chandimal, ran in a couple of paces from point and then extended a full-stretch dive to pluck an outstanding catch. Five balls later, Lahiru Kumara was in the thick of things as Kieran Powell's jab resulted in an excellent grab by Kusal Mendis at second slip. Once again, the ball was dying on Mendis but a swift movement to his right made it look much easier. West Indies were now reeling at 8 for 3.
Roston Chase walked out to a packed cordon of three slips and two gullies, the ball buzzing across the surface at lively speeds. His previous Test at this venue produced a match-winning 131 against Pakistan last year, against an attack consisting of Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Abbas and Yasir Shah. Now, he had to contend with an attack that isn't as skilled yet, but potent nonetheless on a surface with enough assistance.
After driving on the up through covers, Chase fell into his own trap: a repeat to a delivery that nipped in sharply resulting in Kasun Rajitha flattening his middle stump in his very first over, to leave West Indies gasping.
Shai Hope, who swept the Cricket West Indies annual awards couple of nights ago, came out looking to survive, and in doing so was sometimes even diffident in his 49-ball stay that produced 11. He would fall in the third over of the second session, the 24th of the innings, when Rajitha drew him into the drive with one that left him as Dhananjaya dived in front of the first slip to complete the catch.
The wickets falling around him briefly forced Dowrich to adopt an all-attack approach. The first misjudgment was to a Lakmal delivery, which was slightly full, as an attempted pull lobbed off a leading edge to elude point. Then, an ugly hoick off spinner Dilruwan Perera looped over backward point. With two half-chances going his way, he tightened up to play copy-book cricket in his captain's company, the pair's 33-run graft interrupted by a 107-minute rain delay.
After play resumed, the Sri Lankan attack seemed to have lost some steam. Dowrich and Holder imposed themselves to pick up quick and easy runs to seemingly put West Indies on the road to recovery, even though plenty of work lay ahead.
Day 2
Sri Lanka 99 for 5 (Dickwella 13*, Roshen 3*, Roach 2-13, Gabriel 2-42) trail West Indies 204 (Holder 74, Dowrich 71, Kumara 4-58, Rajitha 3-68) by 105 runs
West Indies didn't bat as well as they would have liked, but entertained the possibility of a first-innings lead at the end of a truncated second day in Bridgetown. Only 59 overs were possible in all, 23 of which saw West Indies move from their overnight 132 for 5 to 204 all out. Jason Holder made a bulk of those runs with 74, the highest of the innings. Then Kemar Roach, Shannon Gabriel and Holder struck to dent Sri Lanka's push to parity under lights, leaving the visiting side 99 for 5 at stumps, still behind by 105.
Sri Lanka's inexperienced top order, minus their suspended captain Dinesh Chandimal, failed to apply themselves for long periods. The dismissal of No. 4 Kusal Mendis after doing all the hard work exemplified their problems. Mendis, averaging 59.50 in the series before this Test , blocked steadfastly for 58 deliveries until he ran out of patience in trying an uncharacteristic across-the-line slog to Gabriel's first ball of a new spell, only to see his off stump flattened. This broke a 59-run stand with comeback man Danushka Gunathilaka which had marked a recovery of sorts after Sri Lanka lost both openers to Roach inside seven overs.
Kusal Perera fell for a nine-ball duck, Roach using his angle from around the wicket induce the under-edge through to the wicketkeeper. Mahela Udawatte, playing only his second Test upon his international return after a long layoff, fell to Roach's express pace four overs later. He was trapped lbw after failing to commit himself fully forward to a pitched up delivery that nipped back in, leaving Sri Lanka 16 for 2.
Mendis and Gunathilaka resisted for a while, enjoying a slice of luck along the way when Gunathilaka chipped Miguel Cummins to cover, only to hear the third umpire rule against the bowler because he had overstepped. The error, however, didn't cost West Indies much as Gunathilaka fell two overs into the final session - lbw on review to Holder.
There was more success in store for West Indies when Gabriel had a decision reversed, as Dhananjaya de Silva was out for 8. The nip of the Kensington Oval surface took the batsman by surprise as he pushed outside the line, only for the ball to thud into the back leg. At stumps, Sri Lanka's last recognised pair of Roshen de Silva (3*) and Niroshan Dickwella (13*) were holding fort.
Earlier in the day, Shane Dowrich, who resumed on 60, became the highest scoring wicketkeeper in a day-night Test when he went past Pakistan's Sarfraz Ahmed's 68 in Dubai. But he perished soon after for 71, lbw trying to flick one behind square.
Holder, however, stuck around, opening up to play some delightful strokes with wickets tumbling at the other end. The fiery Lahiru Kumara, who picked up three of the last four wickets to fall, eventually finished with his third successive four-for of the series.
Day 3
Sri Lanka 154 and 81 for 5 (Mendis 25*, Dilruwan 1*, Holder 4-21) need 63 more to beat West Indies 204 and 93 (Roach 23*, Rajitha 3-20, Lakmal 3-25)
An inspired Jason Holder breathed fire to remove four Sri Lankan wickets late in the day as West Indies kept their hopes of a series win alive on a 20-wicket day in Bridgetown. These are the most wickets to have fallen in a single day of Test cricket in the Caribbean, surpassing the 18 that fell when England last toured here in 2015.
Holder's figures at stumps on the third day read 8-3-21-4 as Sri Lanka stumbled to 81 for 5 chasing 144 for a series-levelling victory in the third Test. The visitors could effectively be six down, with Kusal Perera in hospital for scans following a nasty injury while fielding earlier in the day. Official word on his availability is awaited.
West Indies had grabbed a 50-run lead, that could have been much more if not for a shoddy drop down leg by wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich in the day's first over, with Sri Lanka yet to add to their overnight 99 for 5. On 13 then, Dickwella went on to top-score with 42 in Sri Lanka's 154 all out. Holder picked up three of the four wickets to fall, finishing with 4 for 19 off 16 overs.
The game then galloped forward when Sri Lanka took just 31.2 overs to skittle West Indies for 93, the least overs they've taken to bowl out a Test side outside Asia. Kemar Roach's adventurous 23 not out was the highest in a disastrous batting performance, with each of the top five recording single-digit scores. Suranga Lakmal, the captain, and Lahiru Kumara picked up three wickets apiece, Kumara easily the most impressive of the lot, troubling batsmen with genuine pace married with tremendous accuracy.
Then under lights, Holder, Roach and Shannon Gabriel got the ball to hoop around, putting the batsmen through a searching examination. Sri Lanka's hopes now hinge on Kusal Mendis, unbeaten on 25. He has allrounder Dilruwan Perera and the lower order for company.
Danushka Gunathilaka and Mahela Udawatte opened the innings in Kusal's absence, but were dismissed cheaply to expose a fragile middle order missing Dinesh Chandimal, who is sitting out because of a suspension. Udawatte's horror international return after a 10-year gap continued when he was beaten for pace by a sharp inswinger from Roach to be lbw - his second duck and third single-digit score in four innings on tour. Gunathilaka, meanwhile, top-edged a pull to a back-pedalling Devendra Bishoo at mid-on off a steep Holder delivery.
Dhananjaya de Silva was then put to severe test by an inspired Holder, who eventually had his wicket when the batsman shouldered arms to a ball coming inwards and saw his off stump flattened. So fired up was Holder that West Indies wasted a review to a caught behind appeal off Roshen Silva, but he wouldn't last long, nicking to second slip in the same over to leave Sri Lanka in trouble at 50 for 4. That could have been 59 for 5 had Shai Hope, keeping in place of an injured Dowrich, held on to a one-handed chance offered by Kusal Mendis off Holder.
At the start of West Indies' innings, the home side's hopes of building on a big lead suffered early setbacks when they slid to 13 for 3 at the end of the first session where eight wickets fell. Kraigg Brathwaite was snaffled at short leg by a rising Lakmal delivery, while Devon Smith and Hope were beaten on the inside edge by sharp inswingers. Dowrich and Holder briefly resisted to add 27, the highest partnership of West Indies' second innings, before things unravelled. Eventually, Roach's cameo took the lead well beyond 100, and gave them a respectable pink-ball target to bowl at.
Day 4
West Indies 204 & 93
Sri Lanka 154 & 144/6 (40.2 ov, target 144)
Sri Lanka won by 4 wickets
The Pereras - Kusal and Dilruwan - put on a luck-filled but plucky 63-run partnership to haul Sri Lanka to victory on the fourth afternoon of the third Test. There were heart-stopping moments for Sri Lanka in this session, particularly when their best batsman Kusal Mendis was hit in front of the stumps before the team could get off the mark on the day.
But although Jason Holder completed an outstanding five-wicket haul at his home venue, and despite the relentless pressure the West Indies quicks created, Sri Lanka's seventh-wicket stand held firm. Kusal Perera, having returned from his brief stint in hospital the previous night, made a measured 28 not out off 43 balls - by far his most consequential innings of the series. Dilruwan showcased the fight for which he keeps getting picked, surviving 68 balls as he staggered to an unbeaten 23. Between them, this pair only hit four intentional boundaries. One of those was Dilruwan's slap over mid-off, to reach the target.
Sri Lanka will take particular satisfaction from this victory, it having come in such trying circumstances. Three of their senior-most batsmen were missing from the XI - opener Dimuth Karunaratne was injured, Angelo Mathews was at home attending the birth of a child, and Dinesh Chandimal was suspended. The absence of this experience almost told in this chase as batsmen threw wickets away in the final sessions of day three, but large helpings of good fortune helped ease Sri Lanka's path to victory the following afternoon. Dilruwan could have been out several times, edging a ball through the slips, sending a leading edge just wide of cover, and almost playing Kemar Roach on to his stumps. Kusal Perera played and missed plenty himself, and was hit painfully on the hand by Miguel Cummins, to add to the discomfort from his nasty collision.
But somehow, while the Pereras were at the crease, most of the dangerous deliveries missed the edges of their bats or passed by the stumps, and Sri Lanka inched home. There were leg byes, byes, glances just past the keeper, and nervy singles into the infield. The runs were not pretty, but they were important.
There was little the West Indies did wrong on day four. The quicks continued to create chances; no catches were dropped. Occasionally the seamers were guilty of bowling too straight, allowing the batsmen to score easy runs to fine leg. But as the morning progressed, and the ball became softer, there was less seam movement on offer. They seemed by a distance the likelier side to win, when Holder's sixth delivery of the day, stayed a tad low and struck Mendis in front of off stump. But even though Shannon Gabriel was as quick in this session as he has been through the series, and Kemar Roach was just as intense, the Pereras squeaked out runs, while their anxious dressing room - in which Chandimal was present - looked on.
Only after the target was whittled down to less than 20 did the mood lighten in the Sri Lanka camp; it was around that stage that West Indies' shoulders dropped. Kusal and Dilruwan clinched the victory and secured a drawn series for Sri Lanka, but it was the seamers' outstanding work on day three, in which they dismissed the hosts for 93 in the second innings, that was most instrumental to this victory. Though it did help that Sri Lanka batted deep in this match, and that Dilruwan - rather than either of the other spinners, who are less capable with the bat - was their No. 8.
With this victory, Sri Lanka complete a sequence of four overseas Test tours, each of which they have performed creditably in. They had won against Pakistan last year, drawn two Tests in India (though they lost the series 1-0), won in Bangladesh, and now drawn a difficult seam-dominated series in the West Indies. Had they not wasted two hours protesting the ball-tampering charge in St Lucia, they might even have returned with the trophy.
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