Left-arm spinners do the trick for West Indies

West Indies spinner Veerasammy Permaul celebrates a wicket on his way to a maiden 

five-wicket haul in Test cricket

West Indies spinner Jomel Warrican, who took four wickets, wins a LBW decision against Dinesh Chandimal (not in picture)

• Sri Lankan batting collapses in a heap; lose 8/52

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Since the tour of Sri Lanka began, the West Indies have not had things going their own way. To start with, their only four-day warm-up game was washed out by rain and they came into the first Test apparently short of match practice and without gaining any first-hand experience of the conditions and pitches they were to encounter.

The first Test at Galle didn’t go their way. Although they had their moments, it was all Sri Lanka as the Captain Dimuth Karunaratne with the batting and the spin trio of Lasith Embuldeniya, Ramesh Mendis and Praveen Jayawickrama with the bowling condemned them to a 148-run defeat. However, in their second innings, Nkrumah Bonner and Joshua Da Silva showed the rest of their teammates how to tackle the Lankan spinners during their 100-run partnership.

A good team, they say, learns fast from its mistakes, and West Indies were not far behind. Come the second Test, and West Indies made two changes. They brought in their most successful fast-bowler Kemar Roach, and paired off Jomel Warrican with Veerasammy Permaul. The whole idea behind bringing two left-arm spinners is that apart from Karunaratne, the rest of the Lankan batting line-up comprised of right-handers. What a smart move it turned out to be.

Although it was another rain-curtailed day of play yesterday in the second Sobers-Tissera Trophy Test match at the Galle International Cricket Stadium, it certainly belonged to the West Indies, who perhaps for the first time in the series could smile with some satisfaction with what they have so far achieved in the 58.4 overs that play was possible for the day.

Sri Lanka, yet again given a firm foundation to pile up a challenging first innings total, began the day on a high at 113/1, and moved to 152/2 with overnight batsman Pathum Nissanka starting to gradually take the game away from West Indies with a refined innings of 73 off 148 balls, when he became the first of five victims to 32-year-old Permaul who was playing his first Test after an interval of six years.

Following Nissanka’s dismissal, the situation only got worse for Sri Lanka as they lost the experienced Angelo Mathews at 162/4 when he picked up a thigh strain running a single and was forced to retire. Although he returned to bat at no. 10, hobbling his way to 29 courtesy two sixes and a four in the company of the tail, the Lankan innings had by then fallen apart with Permaul and Warrican having wreaked havoc with the rest of the batting to finish the innings off on a high, taking nine wickets between them. The last eight Lankan wickets fell for 52 runs, and full credit must be given to the West Indies spinners for using the conditions exceptionally well.

For Permaul, who finished 5/35 off 13 overs, it was his first five-for in a limited seven-Test career, while Warrican, whose 4/50 was also a career-best, proved an ideal foil.

Mindful that they have to bat last on this spin-oriented surface, West Indies began cautiously with skipper Kraigg Brathwaite and Jermaine Blackwood stitching together an opening partnership of 62 before Jayawickrama broke through by trapping Blackwood LBW for 44. Two overs later, the impending rain drove the players off the field, never to return for the rest of the day.

West Indies trail Sri Lanka by 135 runs with nine wickets intact, and they know if they have any chance of turning this match in their favour, a substantial first innings lead is vital.

Sri Lanka’s Batting Coach Grant Flower, whilst giving credit to the West Indies spinners, blamed the poor defensive techniques of the Sri Lankan batsmen for their dismissals.

“The West Indies spinners bowled at a really good speed today. They got it in the right areas and they created doubt. Unfortunately, some of our guys’ defensive techniques were not good enough and we had a few soft dismissals,” said Flower. 

“Pathum (Nissanka) got a very good ball, and ‘Angie’ (Angelo) at the very end got a very good ball, but between that, some of the guys were out to shots they shouldn’t have.”

Flower praised Pathum’s innings and said that he had a great future ahead of him. 

“Pathum played beautifully, and he looked a class act yesterday and today. He’s been brilliant and he has shown maturity beyond his years. His technique is brilliant, and his mental toughness has also been outstanding. He started in the West Indies and he is doing it here again. When Lahiru (Thirimanne) comes back, he could move to no. 3 which is not a big thing. It shows that there is more depth in the Sri Lankan batting than it used to be.”

Flower said the surface turned more than the first day and added: “It’s a great pitch for the spinners, it’s harder than the first Test pitch and it has bounce. Our spinners have got to bowl in the right areas. The West Indians did that today.”