Rain halts WI push for victory

GALLE, Sri Lanka (CMC):

Rain was again an un-welcomed intruder, after Shane Shillingford and Kemar Roach bowled West Indies to a healthy first innings lead, and Sri Lanka started a recovery in the first Test yesterday.

Shillingford captured a career-best four wickets for 123 runs from 33.2 overs, and Roach scalped three for 75 from 19 overs, as Sri Lanka were bowled out for 378 about half hour before tea on the penultimate day of the Test at the Galle International Stadium.

With a first innings lead of 202, new West Indies captain Darren Sammy asked the Sri Lankans to bat again, following a brief on-field discussion with his side, and the home team reached 89 without loss when the rain interrupted with 22 overs remaining in the day.

It was the second straight day that the weather had played a significant role in the match. Only 30.5 overs were possible on the previous day.

No breakthrough

Clearly exhausted from their earlier toil, the West Indies bowlers failed to make a breakthrough in the 22 overs available to them either side of tea, and Tillkaratne Dilshan and Tharanga Paranavitana both comfortably marched to 44 not out.

Shillingford and Roach had toiled tirelessly in difficult conditions to work their way through the Sri Lankan batting, and give West Indies the luxury of asking any side to follow on in Tests for the first time in five years.

The visitors previously asked South Africa to bat again in the first Test of the 2005 home series in Guyana, which marked Shivnarine Chanderpaul's first Test in charge, and several players boycotting to protest terms and conditions in a disagreement with the West Indies Cricket Board.

Typically, West Indies almost let it slip away, after pouching the classy Mahela Jayawardene early for 59, as the unrelated Prasanna Jayawardene made 58, and Thilan Samaraweera scored 52 to follow their captain Kumar Sangakkara's 73 to add some beef to the Sri Lanka total.

West Indies had Sri Lanka on the run at 295 for seven, but some wayward bowling and questionable tactics from Sammy allowed Prasanna Jayawardene and Dammika Prasad to soldier on for over an hour, and add a valuable 72 for the ninth wicket.

Punished by sri lankans

The West Indies bowlers were punished by the two Sri Lankan batsmen whenever they delivered anything fractionally off-line and off-length - and Jayawardene cantered to his 50 from 74 balls with a single to square leg off Chris Gayle.

But Shillingford again inter-vened, when he had Prasad caught inside the long-on boundary for a career-best 47 from 40 balls, which included two sixes and three fours.

Operating with a well-worn ball, Roach had Ajantha Mendis caught at backward point for four, and next over, Shillingford had Jayawardene caught at deep square leg top-edging a sweep to ensure Sri Lanka fell just three runs shy of the threshold.

Before lunch, Shillingford, Roach, and the rest of the West Indies attack stuck manfully to their tasks, and grabbed the wickets of Mahela Jayawardene, Samara-weera, and Angelo Matthews for 27, after Sri Lanka resumed from their overnight total of 165 for three.

West Indies 1st Innings

580 for nine declared

Sri Lanka 1st Innings

(overnight 165 for three)

T. Paranavitana b Roach 10T. Dilshan c Shillingford b Russell 0K. Sangakkara b D.J. Bravo 73M. Jayawardene c wkpr Baugh b Roach59T. Samaraweera run out (D.J. Bravo) 52A. Mathews c Sammy b Shillingford 27+P. Jayawardene c Roach b Shillingford 8S. Randiv b Shillingford 12D. Prasad c Russell b Shillingford 47A. Mendis c D.M. Bravo b Roach 4T. Thushara not out 4Extras (b8, lb8, w3, nb13) 32Total (all out, 95.2 overs) 378

Fall of wickets: 1-6 (Dilshan), 2-61 (Paranavitana), 3-132 (Sangakkara), 4-193 (M. Jayawardene), 5-227 (Samaraweera), 6-264 (Mathews), 7-295 (Randiv), 8-367 (Prasad), 9-374 (Mendis)

Bowling: Roach 19-2-75-3 (nb3); Russell 15-1-73-1 (nb9, w3); Shillingford 33.2-3-123-4; Sammy 11-2-41-0; D.J. Bravo 16-4-47-1 (nb1); Gayle 1-0-3-0

Sri Lanka 2nd Innings

(following on)

T. Paranavitana not out 44T. Dilshan not out 44Extras (w1) 1Total (without loss, 22 overs) 89

Bowling: Roach 6-0-18-0; Russell 2-0-17-0 (w1); D.J. Bravo 7-0-30-0; Shillingford 5-0-20-0; Sammy 2-0-4-0

Position: Sri Lanka trail by 113 runs with all second innings wickets standing

Umpires: S. Davis, R Kettleborough