West Indies pacers blow away Sri Lanka for massive win

Kemar Roach is the first West Indies bowler since Curtly Ambrose to 300 Test wickets | Roston Chase and Amir Jangoo during their record breaking partnership of 401 for the sixth wicket | Milan Rathnayake took his maiden five-fer in Tests  

• Take 1-0 lead in two-match Test series

ANTIGUA: The West Indies pace attack put on a show on the fourth morning to blow Sri Lanka away in the opening Test of the two-match Test series at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, North Sound in Antigua on Sunday.

In pursuit of a monumental effort to claw back into the Test match, Sri Lanka’s batting caved to get bowled out for just 101 inside 32 overs, eventually losing the contest by a massive margin of an innings and 217 runs with a day to spare to give West Indies their second biggest Test win.

It was the West Indies’ first win in the current World Test Championship cycle. It was one of those all-round performances that showed their talent as well as depth. Sri Lanka were found wanting for the majority of this game. Apart from Dinesh Chandimal’s fifty and Dhananjaya de Silva’s classy century in the first innings, they didn’t have much to write home about. 

Sri Lanka started the day at 15-1, still needing 303 runs just to make West Indies bat again. But they made a horror start by losing a wicket in the very first over of the day with Nishan Madushka getting trapped lbw by Kemar Roach. More misery was in store just three balls later when night-watchman Kasun Rajitha edged Jayden Seales behind to the slip cordon. Kamindu Mendis and Dinesh Chandimal had an epic task ahead of them after those early strikes.

Chandimal did find the boundary on a few occasions to break the shackles with Mendis showcasing more caution. But that approach didn’t yield the desired result as he shouldered arms to a delivery from Shamar Joseph that crashed into the stumps just before the drinks break. Next, it was the turn of the Sri Lankan skipper Dhananjaya de Silva to head back to the pavilion early as the first innings centurion was also trapped lbw by Shamar.

With half the side already in the pavilion, the writing was on the wall for Sri Lanka. A delivery from Roach then seamed in sharply to knock over the stumps to send Kusal Mendis packing just before a drizzle forced the ground staff to run in with the covers. But any hopes Sri Lanka had of delaying the inevitable with assistance from the rain god evaporated as play resumed very soon.

Post lunch, it was the Kemar Roach show as dismissed Chandimal and Milan Rathnayake in the same over to edge closer to a personal milestone. The veteran eventually got there when he castled Asitha Fernando to reach 300 wickets in Test cricket - becoming only the fifth West Indies bowler to get to the milestone. Seales then put Sri Lanka out of their misery with the final wicket of the innings that gave the home side their first win in Tests under Roston Chase. 

“We had enough runs on the board. They were 160-5 and we were in the game. But then Chase and (Amir) Jangoo got the partnership,” said Sri Lanka captain Dhananjaya de Silva. “It was harder than the first innings. The bald patches didn’t help. One injury let the whole team down. We were in the game for the first two days. They had five pacers. We only had four. And one got injured. The other three bowled their hearts out. We have to take 20 wickets to win a Test. The batters will somehow do the job, but we need to get those 20 wickets.”

Jangoo was named Player of the Match. The two teams will now remain at the same venue for the second and final Test, which begins on Friday.