Dilshan’s double strike puts Sri Lanka on top

COLOMBO, (Reuters) – Part-time bowler  Tillakaratne Dilshan snapped up two West Indies wickets within  the space of three balls to tilt the balance of the second test  in favour of Sri Lanka on the third day today.
At the close West Indies were 165 for five in reply to Sri  Lanka’s 387 for nine declared with play ending 52 minutes after  tea due to bad light. West Indies trail by 222 runs.
Dilshan, bowling his off-breaks, first broke a threatening  fourth wicket partnership of 83 between Darren Bravo and Brendan  Nash. He trapped Nash lbw for 29 with a straight ball which the  batsman played for the turn.
Two balls later Bravo, who had been batting confidently,  played a loose drive and spooned the ball to cover point where  Rangana Herath made a lot of ground and took a spectacular catch  inches off the ground. Bravo hit a test best 80.
West Indies, having lost opener Adrian Barath cheaply before  the lunch break, suffered two big losses in the afternoon  session when Sri Lanka captured the wickets of Chris Gayle and  Shivnarine Chanderpaul.
Gayle, who made a memorable triple century in the drawn  first test at Galle, had made 30 when he was trapped beautifully  into a pull shot by Suranga Lakmal which ended in the hands of  Angelo Mathews at deep square leg.
It was debutant Lakmal’s first test wicket and he celebrated  by spread-eagling himself on the pitch as his team mates ran up  to congratulate him.
Spinner Ajantha Mendis, who surprisingly opened the bowling,  trapped Chanderpaul lbw for eight with a straight ball which the  batsmen was a shade too slow to respond to.
Earlier, Sri Lanka declared their first innings after adding  93 runs to their overnight total.
Skipper Kumar Sangakkara completed his 13th score of 150  runs in tests before Darren Sammy had him caught by Gayle at  first slip as he attempted an expansive drive.
Left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn then broke through the  defences of Prasanna Jayawardene for 34 with fast bowler Kemar  Roach having Kulasekara caught at point for 17 and Mendis bowled  for two to finish with figures of five for 100 – his second five  wicket haul.

Scoreboard

Sri Lanka first innings (overnight 294-5)

T. Paranavitana c DJ Bravo b Roach 16

T. Dilshan b Roach 4

K. Sangakkara c Gayle b Sammy 150

M. Jayawardene b Sammy 2

T. Samaraweera c Shillingford b DJ Bravo 80

A. Mathews c Baugh b Roach 25

P. Jayawardene b Benn 34

N. Kulasekara c DJ Bravo b Roach 17

R. Herath not out 24 A. Mendis b Roach 2

Extras: (b-4, lb-12, nb-3, w-14) 33

Total: (nine wickets dec, 115.2 overs) 387

Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-31, 3-34, 4-204, 5-273, 6-325, 7-349, 8-383, 9-387.

Did not bat: S Lakmal.

Bowling: Roach 28.2-5-100-5 (7w, 1nb), Sammy 35-8-80-2 (1nb), DJ Bravo 18-5-61-1 (7w), Benn 19-4-57-1, Shillingford 15-0-73-0 (1nb).

West Indies first innings C Gayle c Mathews b Lakmal 30 A Barath lbw b Kulasekara 3 Darren Bravo c Herath b Dilshan 80 S Chanderpaul lbw b Mendis 8 B Nash lbw b Dilshan 29 Dwayne Bravo not out 1 C Baugh not out 4 Extras: (lb-3, nb-7) 10 Total: (five wickets, 45 overs) 165

Fall of wickets: 1-7 2-51 3-77 4-160 5-161

To bat: D Sammy, S Benn, S Shillingford, K Roach.

Bowling (to date): Mendis 7-0-30-1 (2nb), Lakmal 11-0-67-1 (5nb), Kulasekara 7-4-10-1, Herath 15-3-50-0, Mathews 3-2-1-0, Dilshan 2-0-4-2