First Test, Galle (day five):
West Indies 580-9 drew with Sri Lanka 378 & 241-4
West Indies 580-9 drew with Sri Lanka 378 & 241-4
 Left-hander Paranavitana just missed a third Test century |
The rain-affected first Test between Sri Lanka and West Indies ended in a draw with the hosts on 241-4 in their second innings, ahead by 39 runs.
With 59.2 overs bowled in the day, Sri Lanka had probably done enough when a terminal shower hit just before tea.
Opening batsman Tharanga Paranavitana was out for 95, one of four batsmen dismissed on the final day, after Sri Lanka had resumed on 89-0 in Galle.
Mahela Jayawardene (58) gave support after the loss of two early wickets.
West Indies lacked sharpness in the field, especially after lunch, allowing too many easy runs. They also failed to make sufficient inroads into the Sri Lankan line-up.
That performance was in contrast to an electric spell from Kemar Roach in the morning, in which he blasted out Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara.
Showing real pace, Roach sent Dilshan's off-stump cartwheeling with a fiery yorker after the batsman had added just 10 runs to his overnight 44.
Spinner Shane Shillingford was handled confidently in the afternoon, despite his dismissal of Paranavitana for 95, midway through the session.Sangakkara fell in Roach's next over, edging outside the off stump, to leave Sri Lanka tottering at 110-2 before Paranavitana and Jayawardene combined, taking Sri Lanka through to lunch and beyond.
Darren Sammy, who had dropped the left-hander off the same bowler earlier on, held on to one at slip, after the batsman had looked edgy in the 90s.
Jayawardene played the same bowler with more assurance, twice punching him past point off the back foot, and finding singles and twos in the vacant outfield as Sammy pushed for wickets with men around the bat.
The former captain progressed to his second half-century of the match with a straight six off part-timer Brendan Nash, but fell to him two overs later, tamely chipping back to the bowler when he had looked good for a long innings.
The players move to Colombo for the second in a series of three Tests, that match starting on Tuesday.
BBC
