Sri Lanka v West Indies 1st Test, Day 3 Review: SL in a formidable position as Herath makes merry

Sri Lanka v West Indies 1st Test, Day 3 Review: SL in a formidable position as Herath makes merry: Herath started the day brilliantly with the 7th ball off the morning showing signs of things to come. He got one in with the angle to brush the flap of Marlon Samuels’ back pad while he shaped to cut. Sri Lanka reviewed umpire Illingworth’s not-out decision, but ball-tracking saved the right-hander, suggesting that the impact was only marginally in line with the off-stump.

Herath didn’t have to wait long after a referral had denied him a wicket. Samuels opting for an aggressive danced down the track 3 balls after the referral to smack him to the long-off boundary. Then, trying to pull the last ball of the over, Samuels found the ball skidding through, a touch low to deflect into the stumps off his thigh; a touch unlucky of an innocuous delivery much to the amusement of Herath himself.

At the other end, Darren Bravo was utterly cautious against Herath during his first spell of the morning. Mathews took Herath off after a 6-over spell, and Bravo decided to break free, pulling successive long-hops from Tharindu Kaushal – who bowled four no-balls in one over after replacing Herath – for four and six, and then square-driving successive balls from Nuwan Pradeep to the point boundary.

With 3 overs to go for lunch, Herath came back on, and struck a decisive blow. Bravo had reached his half-century a couple of overs earlier and wanted to continue attacking. He went hard at a flighted ball wide of the off-stump, looking to hit with the turn, and didn’t quite middle it and Dinesh Chandimal standing at short midwicket dived to his right to pull off a spectacular one-hand catch, easily the catch of the match and one that will be hard to better on this entire tour.

Prasad took his 2nd wicket in the 7th over after lunch being rewarded for finding the perfect length to exploit Jason Holder’s indecisive footwork. He had been driven for 2 fours in the over however landed one along the same line but on a slightly shorter length. Holder went for another leaden-footed drive, and nicked to the keeper. Denesh Ramdin was next to go, 4 overs later, slashing away from his body on a Nuwan Pradeep delivery, providing Kusal Perera another catch behind the stumps. At this point, West Indies were 171 for 7, 114 runs short of the follow-on mark.

Two useful lower-order partnerships slowed Sri Lanka’s quest to bowl West Indies out cheaply but the tourists were still 44 short of the follow-on mark at tea with only 2 wickets in hand. West Indies’ lower order had raised hopes of getting past the follow-on mark, with Roach adding 46 with Jerome Taylor for the 8th wicket and 34 with Devendra Bishoo for the 9th, but Herath ensured they fell 34 runs short.

Sri Lanka enforced the follow-on after a Rangana Herath 6-wicket haul helped bowl West Indies out for 251, 5 overs after tea. The left-arm spinner dismissed Roach and last man Shannon Gabriel off successive deliveries, in the 2nd over after Sri Lanka took the second new ball, to finish with figures of 6 for 68.

The visitors started their 2nd innings in overcast conditions and a bit of a drizzle which kept the groundsmen on their toes. There was no further rain threat though and play continued without any interruptions. The debutant Milinda Siriwardana got his maiden Test wicket. Hope played a poor shot dragged one onto the middle stump off a thick inside edge. Herath got Brathwaite LBW, again, when the right-hander played down the wrong line and took one below the knee roll on the front pad. He did review umpire Erasmus’ decision however to no avail. The impact was in line and the ball would have rattled the leg stump. Looking well-set on 34 the West Indian vice-captain must be gutted with himself. Bravo, striking 2 sixes, remained not out on 20 and is accompanied by the night-watchman Bishoo on 6.

Windies reached 67/2 at the end of days play still trailing by 166 runs. The visitors will need an extraordinary effort to get out of this situation while the hosts will look to continue their good work and close out the match on day 4.

Brief Scores:

Sri Lanka 1st Innings – 484/10 (Karunaratne 186*, Chandimal 151; Bishoo 143/4)

West Indies 1st Innings – 251/10 (DM Bravo 50; Herath 68/6)

West Indies 2nd Innings (f/o) – 67/2 (DM Bravo 20*; Herath 17/1)