Sri Lanka win the first Test by an innings and six runs

Herath picked up ten wickets in the match to help Sri Lanka win

Sri Lanka have won the first Test of the Sobers-Tissera Trophy in a convincing manner as they won by an innings and six runs at Galle.

Starting Day Four at 67-2 West Indies lost their last eight wickets for 160 runs, as none of their batsmen except Jermaine Blackwood showed any sort of resolve.

Having put on a mammoth first innings total of 484, Sri Lanka were on top of the game since Day One. The hosts were powered to the total by the centuries of Dimuth Karunaratne and Dinesh Chandimal.

West Indies failed to avoid the follow-on in the first innings and were bowled out for 251. Only Darren Bravo got a respectable score by scoring 50 runs. 76 runs of the West Indies’ first innings total were scored by the tailenders which highlights one of the many problems for the West Indians.

After being made to follow-on, West Indies lost an early wicket in Shai Hope. Although Bravo and Kraigg Brathwaite got off to good starts, they failed to build on it.

Jermaine Blackwood was the lone warrior for the men from the Caribbean as he scored 92 runs, which will help West Indies to take some positive from a match in which they had nothing much to cheer about. The West Indians were bowled out for 227, following-on.

Blackwood was brave enough to take on the opposition bowlers, including Herath, fearlessly. The 23-year-old from Jamaica showed that if enough time was spent in the middle runs could be made. He fell short of what would have been his second Test hundred trying to take on pacer Dhammika Prasad.

In the 11 Tests Blackwood has played, he has scored seven scores of above 50

For Sri Lanka, Rangana Herath was the star bowler as he picked up ten wickets in the match. He gave no room for error to the West Indian batsmen as picked up his fifth career ten-wicket haul and his third at Galle.

The 37-year-old Herath deservedly won the Man of the Match award for his bowling exploits. Although the Sri Lankan pace bowlers did fairly well, it was more of a battle between Herath and the West Indian batsmen.

Angelo Mathews was exceptionally happy with his team effort and lauded Karunaratne, Chandimal and Herath at the post-match presentation ceremony. Karunaratne and Chandimal batted exceptionally well with patience against the West Indian bowling attack, who were ineffective for large parts of the match.

Brief Scores:

Sri Lanka 484 (Karunaratne 186, Chandimal 151; Bishoo 4-143)

West Indies 251 (Bravo 50; Herath 6-68) & 227 (Blackwood 92; Herath 4-79)