West Indies go down fighting as Sri Lanka win 1st Test by 187 runs

Bonner and Joshua Da Silva fought admirably well but they only delayed the inevitable. 

Sri Lanka have won the first Test against West Indies by a whopping margin of 187 runs. The home side needed only four wickets coming into the final day and would’ve hoped to clean up the Caribbean side early. However, the West Indies batters put up an admirable fight to delay the inevitable and at one stage, the hosts looked frustrated as well with things not going their way.

West Indies found themselves reeling at 18/6 late on Day 4 at one stage and had ended at 52/6. Nkrumah Bonner and Joshua Da Silva continued from they left off and fought really well keeping Sri Lanka’s spinners at bay. There were a few close shaves as well but they kept surviving. Both the batters looked extremely determined in the middle which made the visitors believe that they can pull off the heist.

The duo added 66 more runs to the overnight total and also reached their respective half-centuries in the process. Just when they were getting comfortable, Lasith Embuldeniya ended the team’s agonising wait of 44.4 overs. Joshua edged one to the slip fielder where Dhananjaya de Silva pouched the catch.

Bonner fights but Sri Lanka run away with the game

Sri Lanka would’ve hoped then to finish things off quickly but Rahkeem Cornwall’s arrival delayed their wait more. He had scored 39 runs off 58 balls in the first innings and this time around, the man dug deep trusting his defences along side Bonner. They frustrated the hosts for 14 more overs stitching 31 runs in the partnership.

However, Cornwall lost his patience and played a wild shot off Praveen Jayawickrama’s flighted delivery to get caught. Once the stand was broken, Sri Lanka didn’t take much time to skittle the rest of the two batters. West Indies were bundled out for 160 runs in their second essay. Bonner was left alone at the other end but he fought really well for his unbeaten 68 off a massive 220 deliveries.

Ramesh Mendis was the star bowler for Sri Lanka ending with a brilliant five-wicket haul in the second innings as they took a 1-0 lead in the two-match series and also got off the mark in the new cycle of WTC.