Sri Lanka’s only warm up match ahead of the 3 Test match series against West Indies began in Trinidad at the Brian Lara Stadium yesterday, the 30th of May with Sri Lanka skipper Dinesh Chandimal making a much welcomed century for the visitors.
The three day game kicked off in the most dramatic fashion when Sri Lanka’s man in form Kusal Mendis was cleaned up off the first delivery of the tour, when right arm quick Miguel Cummins broke through his defense for the West Indies- XI.
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Skipper Dinesh Chandimal walked in at number three to join Kusal Perera as Sri Lanka were trying out their options with the batting order, after Dhananjaya de Silva – who batted at number three in the most recent Test- pulled out of the tour due to his father’s sudden demise.
Chandimal took his time as usual but Kusal Perera seemed to be in great touch once again as he stroked 65 runs in just 93 balls before he fell to the off spin of the big man Rahkeem Cornwall. Perera had added 130 with Chandimal before former skipper Angelo Mathews(41) returning from injury, put on another century(114) stand with Chandimal before the skipper was dismissed for a well made 108.
Chandimal played with controlled aggression throughout his innings, as he reached the three figure mark inclusive of three towering sixes and six boundaries. He started to hit his full flow after he reached his half century as he took the attack to the West Indies-XI spinners but his dismissal sparked a mini collapse as Sri Lanka ended the day on 318/6.
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Sri Lanka lost four wickets in the space of 74 runs which began with the Chandimal dismissal, but most of the batsmen had a decent hit in the middle.
It was the West Indian spinners themselves who fought back late in the day as Cornwall added another wicket to his tally while West Indian cap and left arm spinner Jomel Warrican captured two wickets.
Niroshan Dickwella remained unbeaten on 26* with Dilruwan Perera falling for 17 off the last ball of the day while Roshen Silva chipped in with 28.
