Visitors gain momentum heading into first Test

The visiting Sri Lankan side have made a bold statement following their dominance in the recently concluded warm up 3-Day match versus the Cricket West Indies (CWI) President’s XI.
After three days of exciting cricket at the Brian Lara Stadium in Trinidad and Tobago, the tourists ended the final days’ play on Friday with a draw. Both sides would have been looking to get themselves settled before the Test series bowls off; with the visitors winning the first battle.
The hosts failed to utilise their bowler’s knowledge of the Caribbean, thus resulting in the Asians pummelling more than 500 runs after batting twice. After making a massive 428 all out thanks mainly to skipper Dinesh Chandimal’s ton; Sri Lanka gained much momentum when they restricted the Windies to just 272 all out in their first innings.
They followed up their robust batting performance by hitting 135-0 in their second innings with Kusal Perera retiring hurt but not before chalking up his second successive 50 in the match; an even 50.
Talented top/middle-order batsman Kusal Mendis propped up the order to open; ended on a top-score of 60 not out to see the Sri Lankans to a good draw; more so giving them ideal momentum with just a few days left for the Test series.
From the Windies perspective, fifties form left-hand openers John Campbell and skipper Kieran Powell in the first innings was the only glimmer of real form as the rest of their batters struggled while their bowlers toiled for just a few wickets, as spinners Jomel Warrican and Rakeem Cornwall seemed to be the best operators with the leather.
Spin seems to be the key for the Asian side who will be relying heavily on the off-spinner Akila Dananjaya who stood out with the ball in the warm up match. The Windies bowlers were decent but failed to utilise the familiar conditions and were exploited by the class of the Sri Lankans.
With the warm-up match out of the way; both teams will now be placing further emphasis on preparing themselves for the first of three Test matches which bowl off on June 6 in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.
(Clifton Ross)