SL tour of WI, March 3 - April 2

[The Professor]

Holder may have lost/been sacked from/stepped down as West Indies captain....but he's still producing the goods.

[sussexpob]

It appears when search for highlights the WICB have put the series live on YouTube

[mikesiva]

The series is also live on BT sports.

Good to see Holder scheduled to bat at seven.

[sussexpob]

There was definitely help on offer for the Windies, but to their credit Roach and Holder got their lengths and lines pretty spot on to continually challenge the SL batsman. Many got out to balls that might not look great, but they were set up for the fall by good preparatory bowling. The pick was Da Silva being castled by Roach, Roach had him chasing air outside off ball after ball, then directed the perfect inswinger clipping his off stump at the top; Da Silva got nowhere near it, but the quality of the bowling on display was top notch.

Windies fielding however wasnt great, as they put down chances; Blackwood's drop of Thiramanne right near the start cost Windies a lot of runs, and it was the simplest of catches. If Windies had fielded with as much ruthlessness as they bowled, SL might have been faced with disaster. SL needed luck just to get to 169, a few edges fell short or into gaps. Even with 70, Thirmanne was mostly outclassed and played with little control.

Will it turn for SL? Cornwall came on very early in the SL innings, so I guess Windies must have believed before their seamers massacred SL that spin might be the way to go. Its not unplayable, but there is something out there, SL need to learn a lesson from the WIndies pacers and focus on getting the ball in the right areas, then letting conditions do the rest.

On a seperate note, Chandimal's review of his wicket must go down as a noticeably terrible decision; he'd clearly edged it, there was no debate. How could he not know he'd edged it? Very selfish

[mikesiva]

West Indies 271 all out

Cornwall 61
Mayers 45
Da Silva 46
Campbell 42

Lakmal 5-47

[mikesiva]

Sri Lanka 476 all out

Nissanka 103
Dickwella 96
Oshada 91
Thirimanne 76
Dhananjaya 50

Roach 3-74
Cornwall 3-137

Target 375

[mikesiva]

Match drawn.

West Indies 236-4

Bonner 113 not out
Mayers 52

Embul 2-62
Vishwa 2-73

[sussexpob]

Pitch must have flattened out considerably over the test, because both teams found scoring easier in the second dig. Certainly seemed a lively pitch first couple of days

[The Professor]

A century for Bonner afte a decade of hard toilet in the domestic scene is a real edifying sight.

[mikesiva]

West Indies 354 all out

Braithwaite 126
Cornwall 73
Mayers 49

Lakmal 4-94
Chameera 3-69

[The Professor]

Lahiru Thirimanne has scored 3 half centuries in this series. Very much the man in form.

[mikesiva]

Sri Lanka 258 all out

Thirimanne 55
Nissanka 51
Chandimal 44

Roach 3-58
Joseph 2-64
Holder 2-39

[mikesiva]

West Indies 280-4 declared

Braithwaite 85
Mayers 55
Holder 71 not out

Lakmal 2-62
Chameera 2-74

Target 377

[The Professor]

A lot of bonuses for both teams here.

Some of those Sri Lankan players made a bit of a name for themselves. Couple of youngsters in there that may help them out of their decade long transition period. Like the look of Oshada Fernando

[mikesiva]

Match drawn

Sri Lanka 193-2

Karu 75
Oshada 66 not out