The West Indies, quite expectedly, struggled to pass the test of spin against Sri Lanka on the second day of the first Test between the teams and as a result, the hosts enjoyed a clear upper hand in Galle on Monday.
Lanka spinners Ramesh Mendis and Praveen Jayawickrama shared five wickets to leave the Caribbean side on 113/6 in reply to the home team’s first innings score of 386.
Off-spinner Mendis removed Kraigg Brathwaite (41), Shai Hope (who is playing as a concussion substitute for the injured Jeremy Solozano) and Roston Chase to finish the day with figures of 3/23.
Jayawickrama picked up 2/25 while fellow spinner Lasith Embuldeniya claimed the other wicket.
Kyle Mayers was 22 not out at stumps, batting with Jason Holder (1). The visitors are still 273 runs behind Sri Lanka’s first innings total and have only four wickets in hand.
Avoiding follow-on will undoubtedly be a difficult task for the West Indies with the Galle pitch already taking good turn. Earlier, the West Indies did well to take the last seven Sri Lanka wickets for 119 runs after the hosts had laid a solid foundation for a good score when they resumed on 267/3.
Sri Lanka captain Dimuth Karunaratne, who reached his 13th Test hundred on Sunday, was stumped by Joshua Da Silva off spinner Chase for 147. He hit 15 fours in his 300-ball innings.
Dhananjaya de Silva made 61 before hitting his wicket. Dhananjaya’s dismissal was a weird one. He was a little late playing a defensive shot to a Shanon Gabriel ball. The ball, after dropping near his feet, threatened to bounce on to the stumps.
A worried Dhananjaya tried to stop the ball by swiping at it, but failed in his first attempt. He swiped his bat again and this time dislodged the bails to be out hit wicket. Chase took 5/83, his fourth Test five-wicket haul, while left-arm spinner Jomel Warrican claimed 3/87.