Dhananjaya de Silva made his 8th Test ton, putting on a record 107-run partnership alongside Lasith Embuldeniya, to give Sri Lanka a 279-run lead at the close of play on day 4.
The pair came together with Sri Lanka in precarious position at the fall of Angelo Mathews’ wicket. At 221/8 and a lead of just 172 on the board, the onus was on de Silva to deliver for Sri Lanka and deliver he did. The right-hander was as elegant as ever as he went to his century and expertly managed the strike between himself and Embuldeniya before the latter gained some confidence against the spinner.
They ended up putting on the biggest partnership in Tests in Galle for the 9th wicket, while closing in on the 9th wicket record for Sri Lanka, the 118 runs put together by Thilan Samaraweera and Ajantha Mendis against India at the P Sara Stadium in 2010.
Pathum Nissanka looked the most comfortable batter for Sri Lanka in the 1st innings and continued that form in the 2nd as well, as he looked to pull Sri Lanka out of trouble alongside fellow overnight batter Charith Asalanka early on day 4.
Asalanka, promoted to No. 4 late on day 3, looked to attack the West Indian spinners but fell to an almost identical dismissal as he had done in the 1st innings after a steady partnership of 38 alongisde Nissanka. The left-hander, coming off some impressive form in the shorter formats of the game, once against pushed too hard at a delivery from Veerasamy Permaul pitching outside the off-stump. The ball kicked off the pitch and hit him high on the bat, bobbing up for an easy catch for the man at short leg.
Nissanka looked solid in defense throughout the session and alongside Dhananjaya de Silva helped Sri Lanka avoid a collapse, but was dismissed at a crucial point when the pair were just beginning to bat the Windies into a corner. The right-hander who has been prolific in first class cricket over the last couple of years, will be disappointed he was unable to push towards a century, with scores of 56, 3, 73 & 66 in the series.
De Silva managed to stay in after being dropped by Joshua da Silva on 5, putting on 78 alongside Nissanka, 51 with Ramesh Mendis and 107 with Embuldeniya.
With the track settling down considerable, Sri Lanka could possibly look to bat on for a couple of overs on day 5, before putting the Windies back into bat.
