Sri Lanka v West Indies 3rd Test - Pallekele, 1st day
The third test match between the host side Sri Lanka and the visitors from the Caribbean http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 began here in Pallekele. Pallekele is the latest addition to test venues in International cricket. The series is leveled right now with 0-0 as both the previous
matches ended as draws. Rain was predicted today and the prediction turned out to be correct. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 won the toss and decided to field. The Sri Lankan decision to exploit the weather conditions actually paid off when they started off in the best possible
way and Srangana Lakmal sent Chris Gayle back to the pavilion on the first delivery of the match.
The match was affected badly by some heavy showers. Only 40 overs were bowled during the first day. It started late in the first place due to over night showers which resulted in a wet out field. Bad light in the evening also contributed to the short play.
Darren Bravo who joined Devon Smith, looked very impressive. The pair together added a stand of 115 runs under some very difficult conditions. Even though the conditions were tough and favoring the bowling side the batsmen played with no problem what so ever
and dominated bowling through out the day and complimented their batting with some lovely shots all around the ground.
Devon Smith who played his first test match in almost 18 months also played like a star. He played really well against all the bowlers especially Suranga Lakmal and Fernando. He eventually fell victim to a straight delivery by Ajanta Mendis who had him in
frame after bowling a series of back to back off spinners. Smith scored 55 and got out when the score board showed 115 runs. Sri Lankan bowling attack was not at its best and the skipper Kumar Sangakkarra would be disappointed with his team performance today
as they were not able to exploit the early break through by Suranga Lakmal. Fernando who is the main fast bowler in the Sri Lankan squad suffered from a very way ward line and length.
Smith and Bravo took full advantage of Fernando through out the day. Fernando did have his close calls during the days play though. Sri Lanka used one of their referrals on the bowling of Fernando. Fernando can also consider him self a bit unlucky as Mahela
Jayawardene who is considered to be the safest fielder in the home side dropped a dolly in the slips. The batsman dropped was Bravo, let’s just see how costly this miss will be for the home side. One good sign for the Sri Lankan skipper is that the pitch showed
a significant amount of turn. Mendis and Dilshan spells today have showed that they will play an important rule as the test progresses.
Another class spinner Rangana Herath didn’t get a chance to bowl today. The good thing about today was that the batsmen from the visiting side have continued their good form. Although the run master Chris Gayle who bulldozed the Sri Lankan bowling line up
in the first test match failed to fire, the other two batsmen showed that they are visiting the emerald island on a mission and look very determined towards there cause. Here is the match summary West Indies 134 for 2 (Darren Bravo 63*, Smith 55) v Sri Lanka
Lakmal 1-20 and Mendis 1-31 Umpires for the match are: Asad Rauf (http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746) is the third umpire. AG Hurst from Australia is the match referee.
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