ICC World Test Championship 2021/22
Day 4, 1st Test: Sri Lanka 386 and 191-4 Dec.; West Indies 230 and 52-6
Venue: Galle International Stadium
Toss: Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat
Scoreboard: https://www.windiescricket.com/matches/209557/
West Indies were left with a tough task to save the first Test match, having lost six-second innings at stumps on the fourth day. Asked to make 348 for victory, the visitors found themselves in huge trouble at 18-6 in the 12th over. Joshua Da Silva then joined Nkrumah Bonner and the pair has so far batted together for over an hour. Bonner closed the penultimate day on 18 not out off 47 balls and Da Silva on 15 not out off 51 balls, before bad light brought an early end to the day’s play. They will carry the fight into the final day.
Bonner remained upbeat that he could do the job. “It is up to Josh, myself and the other batters to come to try and get the job done. We have about 540 balls (90 overs) to bat tomorrow. We want to play each ball on its merit and be watchful against the bowlers. We will have to bat time,” he said.
Earlier, play began after the rain delay, and West Indies added five runs to the overnight score before Sri Lanka clinched the final wicket, when left-arm spinner Praveen Jayawickrama dismissed Shannon Gabriel. This gave Sri Lanka a first-innings lead of 156.
West Indies turned to the spinners early and Rahkeem Cornwall (2-60) and Jomel Warrican (2-42) got early wickets before the score reached 40. After lunch, Angelo Mathews joined captain Dimuth Karunaratne at the crease and they added a 123-run third-wicket partnership. Karunaratne followed up his first-innings 147 registering 83 off 104 balls. Mathews made 69 not out off 84 balls, including two sixes.
Faced with a challenging fourth-innings target, the West Indies collapsed at the start of the innings in pursuit. Off-spinner Ramesh Mendis (4-17) was on a hat-trick when he dismissed Kyle Mayers and Jason Holder dismissed off consecutive balls in the 12th over. Bonner and Da Silva ensured no more wickets fell on the day as they put on an unbeaten 34-run partnership before bad light forced umpires to call it a day.
Play will resume on the fifth and final day at 9:45 am local time (12:15 am Thursday Eastern Caribbean/11:15 pm Wednesday Jamaica Time).