West Indies Captain Kraigg Brathwaite celebrates scoring a fifty on his 29th birthday yesterday

Sri Lanka spinner Ramesh Mendis rejoices taking a wicket on his way to career-best figures of 6/70

• Second Sobers-Tissera Trophy Test intriguingly poised

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Off-spinner Ramesh Mendis returned career-best figures in Test and first-class cricket with 6/70, but despite his huge effort, Sri Lanka found themselves under the pump for the first time in the series as they trailed West Indies by three runs with eight second innings wickets in hand at the end of a compelling third day of the second Sobers-Tissera Trophy cricket Test at the Galle International Cricket Stadium yesterday.

Sri Lanka ended the day on 46/2 in their second innings with Pathum Nissanka (21*) and debutant Charith Asalanka (2*), promoted in the batting order following the injury to Angelo Mathews, at the crease.

West Indies’ attempts to level the series were thwarted by Mendis, who bowled splendidly to dismiss them for 253, an overall lead of 49, when at one stage it looked to be even bigger when they were 166/2. However, the dismissal of West Indies Captain Kraigg Brathwaite for a vigilant knock of 72 off 185 balls (five fours) on his 29th birthday (yesterday happened to be the birthday of Sri Lanka’s World Cup winning captain Arjuna Ranatunga as well, he turned 58) coupled with the arrival of the second new ball spelt disaster for the West Indies.

Brathwaite’s 269-minute stay at the wicket was ended by Lasith Embuldeniya who bowled him with a ball that pitched outside leg stump and went onto hit off stump, reviving memories of Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne’s ball of the century to England batsman Mike Gatting in the 1993 Ashes Test.

The second new ball, taken at the completion of 80 overs with West Indies 180/3 had a massive impact perhaps on the course of the Test match, although at this moment of time it is still far-fetched to assume how much damage it had done to the West Indies, or if any at all.

Mendis, who took the second new ball produced a wicket in his first over, dismissing Roston Chase and followed it up with the wickets of Shai Hope, Jason Holder and Joshua Da Silva as the innings went into decline. Like Sri Lanka on the second day, West Indies lost wickets in clusters 5/28 going to the second new ball in the afternoon session. It was only some spirited batting by Kyle Mayers (36*) and Veerasammy Permaul (15) who added a valuable 38 runs for the ninth wicket that gave West Indies – who will have to bat last on an increasingly turning and bouncing pitch – a somewhat crucial 49-run lead. That lead would not have materialised had Mendis not dropped Permaul at cover when he was on one off Praveen Jayawickrama.

In two completed innings it has been the spinners who have captured all 20 wickets so far from both sides. So, it was no surprise to see West Indies start with two spinners at either end when Sri Lanka commenced their second innings. Not since the days of that famous spin twins Sonny Ramadhin and Alf Valentine in the fifties that West Indies had opened the bowling with spinners.

But it didn’t need the spinners to create some concerns in the Lankan camp, it was their own undoing that saw them lose two wickets through run outs.

Dimuth Karunaratne, the Sri Lanka Captain, contributed to his own demise calling for a sharp single to backward point and failing to beat Mayers’ brilliant direct throw at the non-striker’s end from backward point. Karunaratne, Sri Lanka’s most prolific batsman, scoring the brunt of the batting for his side, ended his last Test innings for 2021 with a run out.

If one run out was not enough, Oshada Fernando followed his captain when a late call from Nissanka found him short of his crease. Sri Lanka had gifted two wickets to the West Indies even before they had wiped out the deficit. They could effectively be 3/46 with Mathews in doubt of having a bat in the second innings, following a Grade 2 hamstring tear on his left leg.

So far it has been a game of attrition, a good contest between bat and ball. To say the least, both teams are flawed, but it has only made this match a fascinating contest with fortunes ebbing and flowing. It will be a searching examination for the Sri Lankan batsmen to set up a target for the West Indies to chase in the fourth innings.

Mayers, summing up the day, said: “I don’t think the pitch has any demons on it, the ball is still spinning but a bit slow. You just need to be a bit patient.”

Karunaratne moves up in Men’s Test Player Rankings