Bridgetown, Barbados: A three-wicket burst at the start of the day’s final session put the West Indies in the ascendancy before heavy rain washed out the remainder of play with Sri Lanka at 99 for five in reply to the home side’s first innings total of 204 after two days of the day/night third and final Test.
Shannon Gabriel, the wrecker of the Sri Lankans in the drawn second Test when he claimed a 13-wicket match haul, made up for a wayward and wicketless first spell with two successes while captain Jason Holder claimed the other to leave the tourists in a precarious position going into day three.
Roshen Silva and wicketkeeper-batsman Niroshan Dickwella will continue the Sri Lankan effort on the third day, weather permitting, as they seek victory to earn a share of the spoils in the three-match series at Kensington Oval in Barbados on Sunday.
Gabriel snapped a 59-run third-wicket partnership between Kusal Mendis and Danushka Gunathilaka when he bowled Mendis, Sri Lanka’s most prolific batsman in the series, for 22. Holder then accounted for Gunathilka, who had been reprieved just before the dinner break when dismissed off a Miguel Cummins no-ball, by trapping him LBW for 29.
Dhananjaya de Silva also fell leg-before to give Gabriel his 19th wicket of the series and the West Indies were pressing hard for more success before the threatening showers put an end to the night session of play.
Lahiru Kumara had earlier triggered a West Indies lower-order collapse with the last five wickets going down for 36 runs after they resumed from the overnight position of 132 for five.
Kumara, the fast bowler who has emerged as the tourists’ outstanding performer with the ball in this three-match series, broke the productive sixth-wicket partnership between Shane Dowrich and Holder which had frustrated the Sri Lakans on a rain-affected opening night as they rescued the home side from the depths of 53 for five.
Dowrich, who has enjoyed his best-ever series with the bat, highlighted by an unbeaten 125 in his first innings of the campaign in Trinidad, eventually fell for 71 on the second afternoon, trapped LBW by Kumara.
