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SRI LANKA TOUR OF WEST INDIES, 2018
Shane Dowrich was unbeaten on 48 at the close of the second session © AFP
A brief rain interruption aside, the post-Lunch session witnessed some interesting cricket – possibly the best in the last two days, as Roston Chase and Shane Dowrich’s 78-run stand helped Windies to 241 for 5 at Tea on Day 3. Sri Lanka struck twice at either ends of the session, but now hold on to only a 12-run lead in the Gros Islet Test.
Devon Smith, who had composed a patient fifty, fell early in the second session when he failed to get behind the line of a straight delivery from Akila Dananjaya and was trapped legbefore, adding only one run to his score after the Lunch break. Rain halted play immediately after that, but only for a brief while.
Nonetheless, the wicket did little to bring Sri Lanka back into the contest as Dowrich and Chase continued with Windies’ cautious approach. With the ball getting softer, the pacers weren’t getting as much help as they did in the morning session. And even as Dananjaya had bagged a wicket, he continued to be inconsistent with his lines and lengths.
Taking advantage of that, Dowrich decided to give his innings a move on and hit him for a boundary and a six off consecutive deliveries in the 70th over. He first stepped down the crease and hit him straight down the ground for a six and followed it up by slashing a short-pitched ball through point for a four.
Runs dried up for a bit after the 14-run over in which Windies went past the 200-run mark, but closer to the Tea break, they found a few boundaries to again give their scoring a bit of a push.
Sri Lanka took the second new ball as soon as it was made available and Lahiru Kumara struck rightaway. A bit of extra bounce resulted in Chase edging a leg flick to the mid wicket fielder. Dowrich, however, remained unbeaten and went to Tea on 44.
Earlier in the day, Sri Lanka’s refusal to take the field resulted in the play starting nearly two hours after the scheduled start time. The visitors were charged for changing the condition of the ball and five penalty runs were added to Windies’ score. After a lengthy impasse, they finally, reluctantly, took the field.
As a result of the delayed start, only 13 overs were possible in the opening session. The session lacked much drama as only one wicket fell and 31 runs were scored. Shai Hope and Smith were largely kept quiet against a fiery spell by Suranga Lakmal and Kumara. Lakmal was eventually rewarded for some fine bowling all through the innings when he had Hope edging to the slip fielder less than 15 minutes before the Lunch break.
Brief Scores: Sri Lanka 253 lead Windies 241/5 (Devon Smith 61, Shane Dowrich 48*, Roston Chase 41; Lahiru Kumara 2-69) by 12 runs
