Sri Lanka vs. West Indies, 2nd Test: http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 take the honours as Colombo Test ends in a draw
The captain of the Sri Lankan team Kumar Sangakkara was a pleased man as his team dealt some psychological blows to the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 on the last day of the second Test match that ended in a draw at the R. Premadasa stadium in Colombo.
The West Indians were bowled out for 243 after resuming their first innings at 165/5; the Sri Lankans then put them to bat again after a bold declaration towards the end of the match.
The West Indians were surprised at being asked to bat again and were soon ruing the loss of two wickets before stumps were drawn and the rain-ravaged Test match was brought to an end.
Sangakkara claimed that he declared the second innings to put the West Indians off track and to make some inroads in their batting line-up and he was happy that it all worked as per the plan.
He was happy with the performance of his bowlers on a generally docile wicket where wicket-taking was a tough task as was scoring runs at a brisk pace.
"We had to try and get a couple of wickets back especially we wanted to target [Chris] Gayle to see if we could get him out early," Sangakkara said. "[Tillakaratne] Dilshan bowled a beautiful spell with the new ball and it was
a great wicket in the end for us.
"It would have been great to see our spinners working on it. We hardly played two-and-a-half-days cricket on this wicket and it's almost turning square.
"Any fast bowler in the world for 100 years has concentrated on line and length and any good ball is a good ball to any batsman. Those are things you've got to keep working on, not try to bowl magic deliveries, but good old fashioned
line and length."
On the other hand, West Indies captain Darren Sammy termed the match a disappointment especially after the effort that they put in the first Test match of the series where they had the Sri Lankans on the mat and forced them to
follow-on.
The match here at the Premadasa was not what Sammy wanted as a follow up on Galle; he conceded that his team could have been in serious trouble if rain would have stayed away on day four of the match which was washed out without
a single ball having been bowled.
"I know the potential we have as a fielding team. The guys work hard and put a high level of quality on their fielding. In cricket, you drop catches, but what I like to see is half-chances to go in our favour, at least one or two.
We haven't been to capitalize on the half-chances our bowlers created. But all in all, we could work on it and correct it.
"You don't change overnight. You have a process. I must say that our work ethic has been excellent. Even the fight we showed this afternoon, though we lost two wickets, it's good to see that we are thinking of the fans at home.
They are waking up at early hours to watch this game.”
Both camps are hoping for a result in the last Test match of the series which is set to be played at a brand new venue, Pallekele.
The new ground is located in an area that is also known for its share of rains, hence a result there is unlikely unless the rain-gods spare cricket for a week.
The West Indians would be extremely happy if they come off unscathed from the three-match series which they started as massive underdogs.
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