Herath’s ten sends West Indies crashing into the blackwoods
Herath leads the pack back to the hut, after their resounding victory - Pic Shantha Ratnayake
This is a kind of victory that would rekindle the hopes and aspirations of a struggling team, who are here to cut a niche in their skills. Skills wise both West Indies and Sri Lanka were of the same ilk. But, what stood between the two teams was the firm belief that the Lankans were at Galle for a win.
Yes, the Lankans won the game by an innings and six runs with almost two sessions and a day to spare. Spearheaded by that merciless left arm operator Rangana Herath adding another ten to his tally of ever mounting wickets and being close upon that magical 300 mark, he kept on mounting pressure on the opposition.
The mighty Caribbean roar that thundered cross the cricketing s skies at one juncture was a whimper. In batting they did not have the will to subdue Dimuth Karunaratne and Dinesh Chandimal and in the bowling they could not match not only Herath, but, also the skills of Nuwan Pradeep and Dhammika Prasad.
The only fighting innings in the two innings came from Darren Bravo and Jermaine Blackwood who completed two half centuries in both innings, but besides that the Lankan bowling was marginal. Jermaine Blackwood top-scored with 92 for the tourists while Rangana Herath took four for 79 after taking six wickets for 68 in the first innings. Sri Lanka’s big hitters were Dinesh Chandimal (151) and Dimuth Karunaratne (186).
West Indies came on to the field on day four on 67 for 2 needing a further 166 runs to avoid an innings defeat which they failed to achieve as they lasted just a session and a half being bowled out for 227. They were in a position of being saved from an innings when they went into the lunch break on 156 for 6 being left with four wickets to make another 77 runs.
Nuwan Pradeep in full steam as he bags another
But it was not to be as they lasted just 13.3 overs in the post lunch session as they fell short by six runs, losing their remaining eight wickets for the addition of 160 runs. Apart from Jermaine Blackwood who made a dogged 92 runs in 135 balls put in some resistance even as the rest failed to make any impression which triggered the Windies downfall.
Herath following his six wicket haul in the first inning laid the foundation when he dealt a double blow by dismissing overnight batsman Devendra Bishoo who was able to add only four runs and then followed it up with the wicket of Marlon Samuels before he opened his account.
Darren Bravo followed next with Nuwan Pradeep being responsible for his wicket as West Indies was now with their backs to the wall on 88 for 5. Blackwood along with Denesh Ramdin put in some resistance before the pair was separated having added 48 runs for the sixth wicket.
Another brief stand between Blackwood and skipper Jason Holder who together added 36 runs for the seventh wicket came to end in the fifth over of the post lunch session. With Blackwood being forced to watch losing his partners at the other end the writing was almost on the wall for West Indies. Kemar Roach became Herath’s fourth victim being dismissed in the same way as in the first inning.
Dhammika Prasad who was wicket-less from the eight overs he bowled being brought back by skipper Angelo Mathews took his first wicket of the inning that of Jerome Taylor. West Indies was in dire straits on 189 for 9 at this stage needing another 44 runs to avoid an innings. Blackwood and Shannon Gabriel posted the 200 runs on the board for them and added a further 27 runs for a partnership of 38 runs before Blackwood was dislodged by Prasad with Kaushal Silva holding on to a catch at deep cover.
However with more than a day and a half of play left there was no way of preventing Sri Lanka from winning the game as the only option left for West Indies was that they could delay Sri Lanka which they were unable to achieve. The two teams will play their second Test match from October 22 to 26 at P. Sara Stadium.
Scoreboard
Sri Lanka 1st innings 484
(Dimuth Karunaratne 186, Dinesh Chandimal 151,
Divendra Bishoo 4-143)
West Indies 1st innings 251
(Darren Bravo 50, Rangana Herath 6-68)
West Indies 2nd innings (Following on)
Kraigg Brathwaite lbw b Herath 34
(Batsman plays down the wrong line
and is hit below the knee roll)
Sai Hope b Siriwardana 6
(Batsman drags it onto the middle
stump off a thick inside edge)
Darren Bravo c Perera b Pradeep 31
(Ball angled in, and straightens, edges to the keeper)
Divendra Bishoo c Mathews b Herath 10
(Attrempts to cut it away gets a thick edge)
Marlon Samuels lbw b Herath 0
(Offers no stroke and is rapped
on the back pad in front)
Jermaine Blackwood c Silva b Prasad 92
(Uses his feet and carves it to deep cove)
Denesh Ramdin c Silva b Siriwardana 11
(Drives and edges it to second slip)
Jason Holder run out (Mathews) 18
(Misses it and off the pad,
Mathews nails the stumps down)
Kemar Roach st Perera b Herath 5
(Has a swing and missed it and stumped by wk)
Jerome Taylor lbw b Prasad 5
(Ball hit on the back pad in front of middle)
Shannon Gabriel not out 7
Extras (lb 3, w 2, nb 3) 8 Total (all out; 68.3 overs) 227 (3.31 runs per over)
Fall of wickets : 1-18 (Hope), 2-60 (Brathwaite), 3-74 (Bishoo), 4-74 (Samuels), 5-88 (Bravo), 6-136 (Ramdin), 7-172 (Holder), 8-178 (Roach), 9-189 (Taylor), 10-227 (Blackwood)
Bowling : Dhammika Prasad 9.3-3-28-2 (2nb, 2w), Rangana Herath 22-5-79-4, Nuwan Pradeep 14-1-28-1, Milinda Siriwardana 12-1-60-2, Tharindu Kaushal 11-3-29-0