Lasith Embuldeniya took his fourth career five-wicket haul while fellow spinner Ramesh Mendis added four wickets to lead Sri Lanka to a comfortable 187-run win over West Indies in the first Test match in Galle on Thursday. (More Cricket News)
West Indies needed 348 to win but was bowled out for 160 shortly after lunch on the fourth day. Embuldeniya, who had innings bowling figures of 5/46, had six wickets in the match while Mendis with 4/64 had a seven-wicket match total.
Nkrumar Bonner top-scored for the West Indies with an unbeaten 68 off 220 balls, including seven boundaries. It was his third test half-century. Bonner and Joshua da Silva frustrated Sri Lankan bowlers, who desperately searched for a breakthrough as rain threatened to spoil the march.
Da Silva and Bonner started the day on 52/6 with the pair trying to rebuild the innings after their team plummeted to 18/6. The pair added 62 more runs in the morning session before Da Silva was caught by Dhananjaya de Silva at slip for 54 runs.
Embuldeniya broke the 100-run, seventh-wicket partnership as the West Indies went to lunch on 125 for seven wickets. Sri Lanka opted to bat after winning the toss and made 386 in its first innings, and the West Indies responded with 230. Sri Lanka declared its second innings on 191/4, giving the tourists 348 runs to win.
