Cricket : Middle-order collapse leaves West Indies reeling on Day 2

Windies news
Following the confirmation that Jeremy Solozano had indeed suffered a concussion—after being struck flush on the helmet by Dimuth Karunaratne while fielding at short leg off the bowling of Roston Chase in the first session of Day 1’s play—the West Indies began Day 2 of their 1st Test against Sri Lanka with Shai Hope as a concussion substitute, replacing the debutant in this ongoing Test.

The West Indies would go on to eventually dismiss Sri Lanka for a just-above-par first innings score of 386, conceding just the 119 additional runs for the remaining 7 Sri Lankan wickets, courtesy of Roston Chase’s 4th Test 5-wicket haul and his second away from home.

Now, as the Caribbean openers walked to the middle, before Tea, it was vice-captain, Jermaine Blackwood who accompanied resident opener and captain, Kraigg Brathwaite. The two would put on a sturdy 46-run opening stand before the Jamaican played down the wrong line of one from Lasith Embuldeniya, to be adjudged lbw.

Five runs later, Nkrumah Bonner’s uncertainty provided a gift Dhananjaya de Silva gleefully accepted at slip. And when Ramesh Mendis denied Brathwaite (45) a 23rd Test half-century, the West Indies were 80/3 after 32 overs.

The visitors would surrender their next 3 wickets for 20 runs, in the 8 overs that followed; finishing the day’s play on 113/6, with the only other resistance coming from the unbeaten Kyle Mayers (22*), who will resume batting with Jason Holder (1*) on Day 3.

The West Indies still trail by 273 runs.

Summarized scores: Stumps West Indies 113 for 6 (Brathwaite 41, Mendis 3-23, Jayawickrama 2-25) trail Sri Lanka 386 (Karunaratne 147, Dhananjaya 61, Nissanka 56, Chandimal 45, Chase 5-83, Warrican 3-87, Gabriel 2-69) by 273 runs

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