Kusal Mendis hit an unbeaten 94 to take Sri Lanka to 176/3 in their second innings of the Port of Spain Test, but their first-innings collapse for 185 meant that the Windies still hold most of the aces in the first of three Tests. With a day to go, Sri Lanka need 277 more runs to win, while the home side need seven wickets.
Stuart Law, the Windies coach, lauded the performance of his players in the Test, saying “we just need one more big effort” from the bowlers.
The first time out, Miguel Cummins picked up three wickets, while Kemar Roach and Shannon Gabriel had two each. Gabriel, Jason Holder and Devendra Bishoo have picked up the wickets to fall so far in the second innings.
“You know 453 to win is a huge target, 400 is not something that gets chased down too often in Test cricket, there’s always something happening. Our bowlers … we’ve had a big effort so far, they bowled them out for 180 in the first innings in 40-odd overs, we just need one more big effort tomorrow – 90 overs to get seven wickets and keep them under 250,” said Law after the penultimate day’s play.
Law said that there was no need to talk to the bowlers, as they know what they need to do.
“We don’t talk a great deal, we just stick to what we know best. We know that we’ve got to find the length that’s hard to score of, we attack the stumps with good field settings, make it hard for them to score and one of those that either roll on the ground or bounce should come into play,” said Law.
“We won’t talk about it too much tonight, we come back in the morning and reassess. We formulate our plans and then get out there and try and do it.”
The bowlers might have given the Windies the advantage, but it’s the batsmen who set it up with a total of 414/8 in the first innings. Shane Dowrich’s 125* was the highlight, but there were good hands from a number of other batsmen who hit 30s and 40s. The second innings was all about Kieran Powell, who hit 88 to help the Windies stretch their advantage and set Sri Lanka a 453-run target.
“We batted really well in this Test match, our top five didn’t score great runs but they all got starts in the first innings,” pointed out Law, the former Australian international. “Dowrich converted that and Powell batted beautifully in the second innings, didn’t quite get on to that hundred but useful contributions down the order.”
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