First, Kusal was struck flush on his toe by a yorker, which demanded medical attention. Kusal, in visible discomfort immediately after coping the blow, decided the best way out was to counterattack. Seeing Kusal walk across, Gabriel speared a superb yorker at serious pace on leg stump. Kusal overbalanced in his attempt to flick and was late on the shot. By the time his bat came down, the ball had crashed into the middle and leg stumps.

Dickwella brings out the ‘Dilscoop’

It was in Zimbabwe, over 17 years ago, that Tillakaratne Dilshan broke through in international cricket. On Wednesday, Dilshan, perhaps watching his mates from the comfort of his couch, may have grinned ear to ear when he saw Niroshan Dickwella play a shot named after him. Seeing the batsman swing freely to full deliveries, Carlos Brathwaite shortened his length and bowled a slow offcutter. Dickwella was already down on one knee, trying to use the pace and paddle it fine. But with the ball not coming on at the pace he would have liked, a delicate little deflection was turned into a full-blooded scoop with the bat moving upwards in a lovely little arc in a fraction of a second or two. He found the middle too, clearing short fine leg to get a boundary.

Cheeky attempt thwarts Kusal

Kusal Mendis’ dismissal was somewhat like that of a man who walked blindfolded on a highway, only to be run over by a cycle. Adventurous in his outlook at the crease, he first fetched a slog-sweep off Ashley Nurse from outside off to hit it into bleachers at cow corner. Then he got down on one knee and swung a full delivery for six over long-on. He was suddenly six short of a maiden ODI ton. Seeing the batsman line him up for a third hit, Nurse shortened his length and fired it wide. Kusal re-adjusted and tried to run the ball past the keeper, but could only manage a faint nick. And with that the wait for a maiden ODI hundred continued.

Lakmal’s three-card trick

One didn’t know whether it was a deliberate plan from Suranga Lakmal to test Johnson Charles with three different deliveries in the eighth over of the chase, but it worked. First up, a full ball was drilled down the ground for four. Then he dug one short, seemingly in an attempt to target his ribcage. The ball didn’t bounce as high as he would have liked. Charles shuffled across and helped it along to fine leg. Then, he unleashed a slow offcutter, which foxed Charles. The batsman was through with the swing even before the ball arrived, and toe-ended a catch to Upul Tharanga at mid-off.

Of mix-ups and missed opportunities

Evin Lewis had just got past a hundred and was cramping. The frustration of a few swings and misses resulted in him attempting cheeky runs. He survived a run-out chance on 114 when Dickwella dislodged the bails before he could collect the ball cleanly from the cover fielder. He continued to swing his way to make 148 before being stranded mid-pitch courtesy a mix-up with his captain Jason Holder, with West Indies slipping to 262 for 6, needing 69 off 57 balls. Sri Lanka’s fielding nightmares extended into the end-overs when Upul Tharanga put down a skier at mid-on to reprieve Carlos Brathwaite on 3.

Both the missed opportunities may have cost Sri Lanka on another day, but on the face of pressure, West Indies wilted again, much like they did in the previous game, against Zimbabwe, that resulted in a tie.

Despite not having registered a single win so far in the tri-series, Zimbabwe are still in the reckoning because of the tie against West Indies as well as the washed out game against Sri Lanka, which has given them four points. The Graeme Cremer-led side will be aiming to use this to their advantage and will hope to come up with a special performance to facilitate their entry into the final.

The played well in the tied game, where they dominated with the bat for the most parts before losing their last eight wickets for 67 runs. Even in the bowling department, Zimbabwe never lost their self belief when Kraigg Brathwaite and Shai Hope were involved in a 162-run stand for the third wicket. Sean Williams and Co. did not give much away in the death overs, while Donald Tiripano defended four runs off the final over. The positive thing from that game was, each time they were under pressure, someone put up their hand and performed, and they will be hoping that it repeats on Friday.

For a team that is without some of their key players, West Indies have given a good account of themselves and the series will serve as a learning experience for the young side. Their major problem in this tri-series is that they haven’t been able to finish games despite being in commanding positions. They should have got through against Zimbabawe when they needed four off the final over. Even in their previous game against Sri Lanka, Ewin Lewis’s 148 went in vain because the lower-order couldn’t bat sensibly and the result was a narrow one-run loss for the Caribbean side.

West Indies, however, have had plenty of positives from this series. The young lot have stood up and given a good account of themselves. The likes of Lewis, Brathwaite, Hope, Jonathan Carter and Rovman Powell have had good outings in the tournament. Brathwaite was pushed to number three in the tied game to take more responsibility and he straight away answered the call, while the rest have showed glimpses of their potential.

The resurgence of Shannon Gabriel has done West Indies a world of good. The fast bowler has led the bowling attack and his aggression has rubbed off on Jason Holder as well. They are among the top three wicket-takers in the tournament, while Carlos Brathwaite and Ashley Nurse have performed their roles to perfection in the middle overs. West Indies will look to build on the positives and come up with a collective effort to get past a spirited Zimbabwe team.

Pakistan have been on a roll since their 2-2 series draw in England in August, which briefly lifted them to number one position in world cricket`s Test rankings for the first time.

Arch-rivals India relegated Pakistan to number two with recent victory over New Zealand but Misbah-ul-Haq`s men have a prime opportunity to close the gap in the three-match series against the West Indies and are strong favourites.

Pakistan captain Misbah said he was relishing the prospect of a day-night Test, where play will be from 3:30 pm to 10:30 pm (1130 GMT to 1830 GMT) with two breaks of 30 minutes, in what is nominally a “home” series for Pakistan.

“It`s exciting because I think the future belongs to day-night Tests,” said Misbah, whose team will be missing senior batsman Younis Khan, recovering from dengue fever.

Pakistan have included in-form batsman Babar Azam, 21, for his first Test after he racked up 360 runs during the one-day series against the West Indies.

But misfiring openers Mohammad Hafeez and Shan Masood have been axed from the squad which levelled the four-match Test series against England.

The West Indies, routed by Pakistan 3-0 in both Twenty20 and one-day series preceding the Tests, come in as clear underdogs.

Coach Phil Simmons, who guided them to the World Twenty20 title in April this year, was sacked prior to this tour after the team lost 2-0 to India in a four-match series in August.

But captain Jason Holder said the West Indies — down in eighth in the Test rankings — are ready to bounce back.

“We have some new faces in Tests so we will do our best,” said Holder.

Experts, however, see Pakistan`s spin duo of Yasir Shah and Zulfiqar Babar proving too much for the spin-wary West Indian batsmen, especially in the unfamiliar day-night format with the pink ball and under lights. Australia staged the inaugural day-night Test against New Zealand in Adelaide last November — the first in Test cricket`s 140-year history.

The innovation has been brought in to address the dwindling crowds in Test cricket — floodlit matches encourage those at work during the day to attend — and has met with initial success.

The Adelaide Test attracted 123,000 spectators and an average television audience of two million.

But players from both sides complained about the pink ball’s movement and durability, as well as the difficulty batsmen faced seeing it under lights.

Pakistan have accumulated more experience than the West Indies under lights, adopting the coloured ball concept six years ago for the final of their domestic premier first-class tournament.

Pakistan have more than one reason to do well in Dubai — as well as grabbing a slice of Test history the match is their 400th Test since playing their first in India in 1952.

A win will not only cap a historic occasion but will also give Pakistan momentum for their pink-ball Tests in Australia in December.

The remaining two Tests against the West Indies will be in Abu Dhabi (October 21-25) and Sharjah (October 30-November 3).

Teams (from): Pakistan: Misbah-ul-Haq (captain), Azhar Ali, Sami Aslam, Asad Shafiq, Babar Azam, Sarfraz Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Amir, Wahab Riaz, Yasir Shah, Zulfiqar Babar, Rahat Ali, Sohail Khan, Imran Khan

West Indies: Jason Holder (captain), Kraigg Brathwaite (vice captain), Devendra Bishoo, Jermaine Blackwood, Carlos Brathwaite, Darren Bravo, Roston Chase, Miguel Cummins, Shane Dowrich, Shannon Gabriel, Shai Hope, Leon Johnson, Alzarri Joseph, Marlon Samuels, Jomel Warrican

Umpires: Richard Illingworth (ENG) and Paul Reiffel (AUS) TV umpire: Ian Gould (ENG), Match referee: Jeff Corwe (NZL).

Warner’s 55 not out saw Australia home with almost 25 overs to spare after the West Indies earlier collapsed from 50 for one to 116 all out from 32.3 overs.

Australia then wasted little time in getting to the modest target, Warner anchoring the effort to ensure a victory that was never in doubt despite the loss of three wickets for seven runs with the end in sight.

Spinners Sunil Narine, with two wickets in one over, and Sulieman Benn caused the discomfort but it was not enough to save the hosts.

The emphatic victory earned Australia a bonus point to move ahead of the West Indies in the three-team standings before Tuesday’s final game at Providence against South Africa.

“Our batting is a real concern,” said West Indies coach Phil Simmons.

“The bowlers and fielding side are doing a great job but we need to get it together with the bat for the next two matches in St Kitts.”

Boosted by a four-wicket win in the tournament-opener against the South Africans at the same venue two days earlier, the West Indies plummeted back down to earth at the feet of the World Cup-holders, whose frontline spinners Nathan Lyon and Adam Zampa did the bulk of the damage with three wickets apiece after the usual effective opening burst from Mitchell Starc. “I really enjoyed it out there on that pitch,” Zampa enthused after his performance.

“South Africa will be a big challenge though on Tuesday with so many quality batsmen.”

Playing his first international match for more than six months after being sidelined by injury, the left-arm fast bowler breached the defences of openers Andre Fletcher and Johnson Charles to finish with figures of two for 37 from nine overs.

He showed signs of rustiness in delivering five wides and a no-ball, however his lethal pace proved more than a handful for the West Indies top order.

Starc’s tally of ODI wickets is now at 92 in his 47th match and should he take eight more before the end of this competition he will eclipse Pakistan’s Saqlain Mustaq for the record as the fastest to 100 wickets in terms of matches played in this format of the international game.

Charles topscored with a chancy 22 while all-rounder Carlos Brathwaite was last out for 21, Aaron Finch taking the catch at long-on to give Zampa his third wicket.

Notwithstanding the turgid surface, the home batsmen contributed to their swift demise with a succession of poor shots, exemplified by Darren Bravo’s loose cover-drive at seamer Mitchell Marsh which offered a straightforward catch to Zampa at cover.

Lyon, the experienced off-spinner, had an almost instant impact in disposing of Marlon Samuels and Kieron Pollard off successive deliveries.

Carlos Brathwaite, who till yesterday had played only seven T20 internationals for West Indies and never hit a single boundary in any of them suddenly became his team’s savior and hero as he sent the first six balls of that final over sailing into the stands for consecutive sixes that saw West Indies overhaul England’s total of 155-9 and win by four wickets with two balls to spare.

Stokes was left speechless and dejected as the fourth ball sailed over the stands at deep midwicket.

Brathwaite’s cameo knock of 34 off 10 balls overshadowed the batting of the real hero of the West Indies victory Marlon Samuels who held up one end to remain unbeaten on 85 scored off 66 balls with nine fours and two sixes.

Samuels kept a cool head when wickets were falling around him to play a match-winning knock as he had done in 2012 in the final against Sri Lanka at the R Premadasa Stadium when he scored 78 off 56 balls to give West Indies their last win in the World T20 tournament. No team has won the World T20 title twice and West Indies have become the first to do so.

Samuels and Brathwaite added 54 runs off 25 balls in an unbroken stand that brought the crowd back to life after England had controlled the West Indies power hitting by capturing the first six wickets for 107 runs in 16 overs.

West Indies lost their first three wickets for 11 runs by the third over and were never really able to dominate the batting the way they had done against other teams in the tournament, until the final over. England bowled some excellent deliveries and their fielding was outstanding.

A disconsolate Joe Root and Ben Stokes after England had been robbed off a win in the final over of the World T20 final on Sunday.

West Indies and Samuels had Sri Lanka umpire Kumar Dharmasena to thank for their historic victory. When he had scored 27 Samuels was given out caught behind by Jos Buttler off Liam Plunkett by umpire Rod Tucker. Samuels was almost half way to the dugout when Dharmasena spoke to Tucker and the umpires called for a review of the catch. To the disappointment of England and the joy of the West Indies TV replays showed the ball hitting the ground before Buttler caught it. The incident took place in the seventh over with West Indies reeling at 37-3. If Samuels had gone at that point, it was very unlikely that that West Indies would have been celebrating 13 overs later. Samuels went onto use the reprieve to guide West Indies to their memorable win and with it pick up the Man of the Match award.

England did extremely well until the final over to defend their total of 155-9 largely based on Joe Root’s knock of 54 off 36 balls (7 fours). Buttler scored 36 off 22 balls and helped England recover to 84-4 after Samuel Badree had reduced them to 23-3 by dismissing Jason Roy for a second ball duck and Eoin Morgan for five and Andre Russell sent back Alex Hales for one.

India’s Virat Kohli was named Man of the Tournament.

West Indies had reason to have a double celebration in one day when earlier their Women’s team beat Australia to emerge champions for the first time.

The hosts lead the series 1-0 following their emphatic innings victory in Galle and also look set to win the Sobers-Tissera Trophy which is on offer for the first time.

The national selectors have decided to include another promising youngster Kusal Mendis while replacing the out of form Lahiru Thirimanne who has struggled for runs during the recent past.

Rangana Herath will the vice-captain for the match.

The former Sri Lanka U19 World Cup captain has really forced himself into recognition following a series of good scores for the Sri Lanka A team and for the Development Squad during a recent series in India.

In addition controversial spinner Tharindu Kaushal has been left out and his place will be taken by all-rounder Dilruwan Perera who will be making a comeback having played his previous Test match against Pakistan in June this year.

Sri Lanka skipper Angelo Mathews welcomed the inclusion of new cap Kusal Mendis but also emphasised that the left out players could always make a comeback in the future.

“We know every player goes through a rough patch in their career and I hope the players left out will soon bounce back. But at the moment we don’t have any choices so we got to make that call” said Mathews.

“Kusal Mendis has earned his place in the side and hope that he will grab that opportunity and cement his place in the side. We are not going to put a lot of pressure on him and we can’t expect wonders from him. There will be nervous times for him but we will be there to help him out. As the team captain I will back him all the way. He has the talent and I hope that he will come out good” added the Sri Lanka captain.

Mathews also expected the West Indies to bounce back after their setback in Galle and said that the team will need to play positively if they are to complete a 2-0 whitewash.

“There is a little bit of bounce than it was in Galle. But it looks really dry so the spinners will come into play. Regardless of the wicket we will have to play some good cricket. We got to pick a team which could win the game and I am pretty sure if we could play to our potential we can win the game” added Mathews.

Despite their success in the opening Test, Mathews believed that there is still plenty of room for improvement as the team look to make an impact at a venue which has produced a result in the last ten games.

“As a team we are looking at an improvement in all departments. We can still fine tune in batting, bowling and fielding and we always try to keep on improving and to be as clinical as possible.”

Meanwhile the West Indies are likely to make at least one change to their side with Rajendra Chandrika set to replace opening batsman Shai Hope in the line-up.

Even then, they still face a daunting task to regroup and to bounce back with their bowling area as the main concern having conceded nearly 500 runs to their opponents in the first Test.

No doubt the Caribbean islanders will be inspired with the legendary all-rounder Sir Garfield Sobers been present at the venue as a chief guest.

The teams:

Sri Lanka (from): Angelo Mathews (captain), Rangana Herath (vice-captain), Kaushal Silva, Dimuth Karunaratne, Dinesh Chandimal, Kusal Perera, Milinda Siriwardana, Kusal Mendis, Dilruwan Perera, Dhammika Prasad, Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal, Dushmantha Chameera.

West Indies (from): Jason Holder (captain), Kraigg Brathwaite (vice-captain), Devendra Bishoo, Jermaine Blackwood, Carlos Brathwaite, Darren Bravo, Rajendra Chandrika, Shane Dowrich, Shannon Gabriel, Shai Hope, Denesh Ramdin, Kemar Roach, Marlon Samuels, Jerome Taylor, Jomel Warrican.

Free entry for schoolboys

School cricketers and schoolboys will have free entrance to witness the second Test match between Sri Lanka and the West Indies for the Sobers-Tissera Trophy, which begins at the P. Sara Oval in Colombo today.

Legendary cricketer Sir Garfield Sobers and former national captain Michael Tissera will be the chief guest at this match.

School cricketers and schoolboys are requested to come in with their respective school uniform to receive free entry to the venue.

Sri Lanka are rebuilding following the retirement of their batting greats, Mahela Jayawardena and Kumar Sangakkara, within the space of a year.

The West Indies, already hit by the reluctance of senior pros like Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo to play Test cricket, faced further turmoil when coach Phil Simmons was stood down for the tour for speaking out against his board’s selection policies.

Former fast bowler and selector Eldine Baptiste, who will serve as interim coach for the tour, will try to ease newly-appointed Test captain Jason Holder into the role.

Holder, a 23-year-old all-rounder who has played just eight Tests, was a surprise choice to replace the seasoned Denesh Ramdin as captain.

“We have a very young team and a young captain,” Baptiste said. “My job is to keep the team focused for the Test matches.”

The West Indies are searching for their maiden Test win on Sri Lankan soil, where they have played nine matches since 1993 — losing five and drawing the other four.

Both teams will look to bounce back after a lacklustre year.

The West Indians lost to South Africa and Australia, while the home series against England was drawn 1-1.

Angelo Mathews’ Sri Lanka crashed to a 2-0 series defeat in New Zealand and lost home series to Pakistan and India by identical 2-1 margins.

Like their rivals, Sri Lanka too have an interim coach in Jerome Jayaratne, who was given charge of the team after Marvan Atapattu resigned in the wake of the defeat against India.

Jayaratne, who did not play international cricket but made his mark as head of the Sri Lankan board’s coaching department, has already described Mathews’ boys as the “worst fielding side in Asia”.

He refused to take victory for granted against the young touring side.

“I would like to believe that we have a better chance of getting back to winning ways, but I definitely won’t underestimate them,” he said.

Only two players from either side have played more than 50 Tests — Mathews and Rangana Herath for Sri Lanka and batsman Marlon Samuels and Ramdin for the West Indies.

Herath, the 37-year-old left-arm spinner, could prove to be the difference when the first Test starts at the picturesque Galle International Stadium, a venue that traditionally favours spin.

Herath took seven for 48 against India in August, helping Sri Lanka bounce back to win that Test by 63 runs.

In June Pakistani spin twins Yasir Shar and Zulfiqar Babar combined to grab 13 wickets between them as Sri Lanka suffered a 10-wicket defeat at the same venue.

In the absence of star spinner Sunil Narine, who was not picked for the Tests, the West Indies will rely on leg-break bowler Devendra Bishoo, who has claimed 50 wickets in 13 Tests so far.

Sri Lanka’s batting in the absence of Jayawardene and Sangakkara will revolve around skipper Mathews, who hit three centuries in the home Tests against Pakistan and India.

Sri Lanka (from) – Angelo Mathews (capt), Lahiru Thirmanne, Dimuth Karunaratne, Kaushal Silva, Dinesh Chandimal, Rangana Herath, Dhammika Prasad, Kusal Perera, Dushmantha Chameera, Nuwan Pradeep, Tharindu Kaushal, Suranga Lakmal, Dilruwan Perera, Milinda Siriwardena, Kusal Mendis.

West Indies (from) – Jason Holder (capt), Kraig Brathwaite, Jermaine Blackwood, Carlos Brathwaite, Devendra Bishoo, Darren Bravo, Rajendra Chandrika, Shane Dowrich, Shannon Gabriel, Shai Hope, Denesh Ramdin, Kemar Roach, Marlon Samuels, Jerome Taylor, Jomel Warric