The Windies in reply to the Sri Lankan first innings score of 484 , were all out for 251 and were made to follow on trailing by 233 runs. At stumps they were 67 for 2 with Herath and debutant Milinda Siriwardena taking the wickets of openers Kraigg Breathwaite and Shai Hope respectively. The West Indies still need 166 runs to escape from an innings defeat. Darren Bravo the top scorer in the first innings with 50 is unbeaten on 20 and with him is left hander Devendran Bishoo.
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Sri Lanka’s hero Rangana Herath who took 6 for 68 in action at Galle yesterday.

West Indies in their first innings with 285 runs adrift to make Sri Lanka bat for the second time started off tentatively with Herath who took two wickets on the previous day starting with a maiden to Marlon Samuels. Nuwan Pradeep bowling from the Rampart end also bowled a maiden over. Darren Bravo looked edgy facing Pradeep and got one past through the slip cordon for 4. But in Herath’s second over Marlon Samuels whom the Windies depended on stepped out and drove Herath straight for 4, but two deliveries later Samuels going for a pull shot off a short delivery which kept low played on off his pads which was sufficient enough to dislodge the bail.

z_p20-Rangana-02.jpgJermaine Blakwood the talented right hander playing in his tenth Test match joined Darren Bravo and brought some order to the West Indian batting. Tharindu Kaushal who replaced Herath was treated harshly by left-hander Bravo , Tharindu Kaushal after being barred of bowling the ‘doosra’ doesn’t look the same bowler which he was , his tendency to bowl quicker at times has made him lose control and Bravo despatched him to the midwicket boundary for a four and a six consecutively to take the Windies past the century mark. The rattled off spinner now had to be aware of his front foot in addition to his arm as he over stepped thrice in the over.

Blackwood and Bravo added 41 runs for the fourth wicket, Dammika Prasad struck when Blackwood edged one into the slips to give Milinda Siriwardena his first Test catch.

Mathews kept his pace-spin going with Prasad and Pradeep from one end Herath and Kaushal from the other end. Kashal was replaced by Milind Siriwardena giving the left armer his first bowl in a Test match. Siriwardene after bowling four overs without much success for ten runs was replaced by Herath once again and Herath obliged his skipper in the second ball just ten minutes before lunch, Darren Bravo going for a big drive on the off ended up with a thick inside edge and Dinesh Chandimal took a spectacular catch at mid-wicket. Bravo had faced 107 deliveries and had eight fours and a six in his 50.

Jason Holder no rabbit with the bat with a Test hundred and a couple of fifties the skipper and his former captain Ramdin had to perform something extra ordinary to restore the innings. Holder after striking four boundaries in his 19 adding 33 runs with Ramdin was caught by Perera, Jerome Taylor added a further 46 with Kemmar Roache for the eighth wicket when Taylor snicked one to Mathews in the slips off Tharindu Kaushal. When Taylor was dismissed the Windies still needed 68 runs to avert the follow-on. Mathews opted for the second new ball at 245 for 8 with Roache and Devendra Bishoo trying desperately to avert the follow. But Herath sharing the new ball with Prasad took the two wickets. Roach who faced eighty deliveries for his 22 fighting doggedly was stumped by Kusal Janith and Shanon Gabriel both fell to Herath who completed another five wicket haul 6 for 68.

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

Batting all-rounder Siriwardena has been rewarded for making an encouraging start to his ODI career while Kusal Mendis had the honour of captaining the Sri Lanka U19 team during last year’s Youth World Cup.

Both Siriwardena and Mendis are currently playing in the three-day practice match against the West Indies which commenced at the SSC ground in Maitland Place yesterday.

However the national selectors have left out two veterans Upul Tharanga and Jehan Mubarak who made their appearances in the recent series’ against Pakistan and India respectively.

The Sri Lanka squad: Angelo Mathews (captain), -Lahiru Thirimanne (vice captain), Kaushal Silva, Dimuth Karunaratne, Dinesh Chandimal, Kusal Perera, Milinda Siriwardene, Kusal Mendis, Rangana Herath, Dilruwan Perera, Tharindu Kaushal, Dhammika Prasad, Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal, Dushmantha Chameera. (CD)

The national selectors believe that it is the right time to provide the necessary international exposure to these promising youngsters following the retirement of Tillakaratne Dilshan, Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara.

In fact Sri Lanka has tried out three batsmen for the vacant number three position with Lahiru Thirimanne, Upul Tharanga and Dimuth Karunaratne all failing to deliver the desired results in the recent past.

As a result the three-day fixture that starts on October 8 at the SSC ground in Maitland Place has virtually turned out to be a trial match with the national selectors having a close eye on some of the potential players.

“We are really concerned about these young players who will be our future stars, and we feel we should give these players more international exposure so that they could prove themselves at the highest level,” revealed chairman national selection committee Kapila Wijegunawardene.

The head of the national selection committee further stated that they have been following and observing these players in the recent past during the domestic and Sri Lanka A tours and believed that the players should be in a position to take up the challenge at Test match level.

“We have a systematic way of providing these opportunities to the up and coming players and we will open the pathways for them at the correct time so that they could make an impact in different formats of the game”.

The Sri Lanka team is of course hoping to bounce back following two back-to-back 1-2 home series defeats at the hands of India and Pakistan recently.

However Wijegunawardena noted that they are not very much concerned about the recent performances and the results on the field and believe that they would still like to have a couple of youngsters making it to the Test squad.

“We have some talented players like Milinda Siriwardena, Kusal Mendis, Minodh Bhanuka, Angelo Jayasinghe and Vishwa Fernando who have been knocking at the door for quite some time and we will certainly consider their performances,” added Wijegunawardena.

However the recent bad weather conditions have not only affected the training schedule of the players but even the strategy of the national selectors who are still undecided on wheather they should attack with pace or spin.

“I think our strength in the recent past have been more on spin but with the current bad weather conditions we are yet to make up our mind in this regard,” emphasised Wijegunawardena.

However Sri Lanka is likely to stick with the style of fielding seven batsmen and four bowlers. In fact it was the batting department that certainly let the side down during the home series against India and Pakistan.

Wijegunawardena also stated that none of the batting positions in the team were fixed and they need to work out the combinations depending on the players’ talent and potential.

He believed that the series against the West Indies will be another good opportunity for them to carry out some experiments and to identify the most suitable batsman for the respective position.
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