da wazamba： West Indian hopes of leveling this three-match Test series were dealtanother blow on Thursday when persistent rain washed out two full sessionsat the Asgirya International Stadium in Kandy
Charlie Austin22-Nov-2001West Indian hopes of leveling this three-match Test series were dealtanother blow on Thursday when persistent rain washed out two full sessionsat the Asgirya International Stadium in Kandy.Yesterday, despite being handicapped on the opening day by an injury to keyfast bowler Mervyn Dillon and the enforced withdrawal of fellow pace bowlerColin Stuart following two beamers, West Indies remained in the game thanksto a triple strike from leg-spinner Dinanth Ramnarine.Today they were boosted by the return of Dillon who was able to bowl tenovers in the morning and helped make further inroads into the Sri Lankanbatting with the second new ball.Sri Lanka, 197 for five, added a further 53 runs before Carl Hooper decidedto take the second new ball. Dillon and left-arm pace bowler Pedro Collinsresponded by grabbing three wickets for no runs in 4.6 overs to leave SriLanka precariously placed on 249 for eight.Lower order batsmen Nuwan Zoysa and Niroshan Banadaratillake added 24valuable runs before drizzle forced the players off the field for lunch. Nofurther play was possible and Sri Lanka start again tomorrow on 273 foreight.Earlier in the day Hashan Tillakaratne added 27 runs before he played ontohis stumps as he tried to pull a short delivery through the leg-side. Outfor 88, it was his first Test dismissal for 975 minutes; a wicketless runthat yielded 433 runs and spanned four Test matches.He was well supported by Thilan Samaraweera, who scored a solid 29, in auseful 80 run partnership for the seventh wicket.Samaraweera, however, was caught behind off a peach of a leg cutter fromDillon shortly after the demise of Tillakaratene and, when Chaminda Vaas wastaken at slip for a 21 minute duck, West Indies looked set to quickly wrapup the innings.Kandy, though, has a reputation for important lower order stands and Zoysaand Bandaratillake played well enough before the rain to ensure that theWest Indian bowlers don’t take any liberties tomorrow.They will also know that Sri Lanka’s score is not far from par at venue thathas produced first innings totals of 253, 297 and 274 in the last Tests.Nonetheless, despite all the setbacks faced by the tourists, they have afine opportunity to level the series and they will be hoping that the poorweather predicted over the coming days