West Indies surrender meekly as Sri Lanka clinch series
West Indies suffered a dramatic collapse in their pursuit of a chasable target of 244 to be bowled out for 171 in their second innings, thus handing Sri Lanka a 72-run victory in the second Test being held at the P Sara Oval. Having suffered an innings defeat in the series opener, West Indies lost the 2-match series 2-0.
Resuming Day 5 224 runs adrift of a possible series-levelling victory, West Indies started off on a bright note but lost their way in the opening session itself with the Sri Lankan spin duo of Rangana Herath and Milinda Siriwardana cast a web around the West Indies batsman to hand the hosts an unlikely victory.
The way the overnight batsmen Shai Hope and Darren Bravo started off the proceedings raised hopes of a victory for the visitors. Both batsmen started off aggressively with Bravo, in particular, looking eager to chase down the total in quick time. The duo added 60 runs for the 2nd wicket and with West Indies just 164 runs away from victory, the hosts were looking down the barrel.
The aggressive approach, however, ended up being Hope’s undoing as he stepped down the track off a flighted delivery by Siriwardene and ended up clipping the stumps. West Indies lost two more wickets before the lunch with Marlon Samuels and Jermaine Blackwood heading back to the pavillion for single-digit scores.
Bravo completed his half-century just before the lunch but the three quick wickets meant that Sri Lanka had all the momentum and the tide had clearly changed for the match. Herath piled on further misery in the second session picking up the wickets of the dangerous Bravo and Denesh Ramdin, thus finishing off the recognised batsmen from the West Indies line-up.
Siriwardana returned to pick up the wicket of Jason Holder while Herath picked up a third wicket of his own dismissing Jerome Taylor. The visitors weren’t helping their cause one bit as Devendra Bishoo ran himself out while attempting an unnecessary third run.
West Indies had lost 5 wickets with the addition of only 14 runs on the board as they were reduced from 124/4 to 138/9 to all but secure the match for Sri Lanka. The last pair of Kemar Roach and Jomel Warrican provided some late resistance, but it was never going to be enough as West Indies were eventually bowled out for 171.
Brief scores:
Sri Lanka 200 & 206
West Indies 163 & 171
Result: Sri Lanka won by 72 runs; win series 2-0