Batting in the fourth innings to win by 348 runs, after losing 6 wickets for 16 runs, no team has anything left. But the West Indies still fought. Encruma Bonner’s 6 off 220 balls and Joshua da Silver’s 54 off 129 balls took the Caribbeans to 160. Sri Lanka won the Gaull Test by a huge margin of 16 runs. The start of the second round of the World Test Championship was as planned by the Lankans.
Sri Lanka declared the innings at 191 for 7 in the second innings. That was enough to take the target beyond the reach of the West Indies. Sri Lankan captain Dwimuth Karunaratne, who scored a century in the first innings, also made 83 in the second innings. Angelo Mathews did 69. Lasith Embuldenia and Ramesh Mendis were the main losers in the West Indies innings. These two have shared 9 wickets among themselves. Veteran Jayabikrama took a wicket.
Enkruma Bonner and Joshua da Silva only delayed the Lankans’ victory. It would have been even more terrible for the Caribbeans to have collapsed if they had not been able to play these two fifty-two innings.
Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat first. Karunaratne played an innings of 146 runs. Roston Chase, however, took 5 wickets for the West Indies. But his team was all out for 156 runs. Left-arm spinner Jayabikrama was the Lankan’s best bowler in the first innings. Mendis also bowled well and took 3 wickets.
