Paranavitana misses century as first test drawn

GALLE, Sri Lanka, (Reuters) – Opener Tharanga  Paranavitana missed out on a century as the first test between  Sri Lanka and West Indies was drawn yesterday after rain washed  out the final session on the fifth day.

Paranavitana fell for 95 as the hosts reached tea on 241 for  four, a lead of 39. No resumption of play was possible after the  break.

Paranavitana, dropped after he had made 53, and Mahela  Jayawardene dug in with a third wicket stand of 87 on the final  day to help secure a draw after Sri Lanka had followed on.

West Indies, thanks to career best 333 from Chris Gayle, had  made 580 for nine declared in their first innings and then  dismissed the home side for 378.

“We came here with a winning mindset. We did everything that  we were supposed to do in this test match. We had a good chance  of winning by putting some pressure on them,” said West Indies  captain Darren Sammy.

“Like you saw our bowlers really toiled out there. The  wicket was not really offering much assistance to the pacers.  But I must commend the bowling unit for sticking out there and  they created the opportunities.

Their effort was good but  unfortunately we didn’t get the ten wickets we wanted.”
Sammy helped end Paranavitana’s resistance, taking a simple  catch at slip from the bowling of Shane Shillingford.
Jayawardene moved to his second half-century of the match by  straight driving part-time spinner Brendan Nash for six but fell  for 58 to the same bowler eight balls later when he drove too  early and hit back a low return catch.

Thilan Samaraweera (19) and Angelo Mathews (5) were together  when light rain forced the players to take an early tea.
West Indies started brightly in the morning and struck two  early blows in the morning when Tillakaratne Dilshan and captain  Kumar Sangakkara were dismissed within two overs of each other.

Sangakkara said his side’s below-par bowling in the first  two sessions on the first day had allowed West Indies to take  control of the test.

“The lines and the lengths we bowled on this track was not  good enough for us to put any pressure on them, to get wickets  or to cut down on the runs. Chris (Gayle) took a lot of  advantage from that and he batted magnificently,” he said.
The second test starts in Colombo on Nov. 23.


SCOREBOARD

West Indies first innings 580-9 dec (C. Gayle 333, A. Barath  50, Darren Bravo 58, B. Nash 64; A. Mendis 6-169)
Sri Lanka first innings 378 (K. Sangakkara 73, M.  Jayawardene 59, T. Samaraweera 52, P. Jayawardene 58)
Sri Lanka second innings (overnight 89-0)
T. Paranavitana c Sammy b Shillingford                  95
T. Dilshan b Roach                                                             54
K. Sangakkara c Sammy b Roach                                   4
M. Jayawardene  c & b Nash                                         58
T. Samaraweera not out                                                  19
A. Mathews not out                                                             5
Extras: (lb-1, nb-1, w-4)                                                    6
Total: (four wickets, 81.2 overs)                                 241
Fall of wickets: 1-102 2-110 3-197 4-233
Bowling: Roach 17-3-55-2, Russell 8-1-31-0 (w-2), DJ Bravo  12.2-1-40-0 (w-2), Shillingford 30-4-79-1 (nb-1), Sammy  9-2-14-0, Nash 5-0-21-1.