Greaves' 180 sets stage for potentially thrilling final day

Stumps, Day 4: Sri Lanka 549 for 9 dec & 92 for 2 (Chandimal 40*, Kamindu 30*, Alzarri 1-17) lead West Indies 499 (Greaves 180, Hope 112, Fernando 5-130) by 142 runs

All three results are still possible ahead of Tuesday’s final day of the second Test between the West Indies and Sri Lanka at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua and Barbuda. 

Despite two early strikes from the West Indians in the evening session, Dinesh Chandimal (40*) and Kamindu Mendis (30*) stitched together an unbroken 60-run partnership to see the visitors stretch their lead to 142 runs at close of play.

On a day that Sri Lanka tried everything with the ball, the West Indies might have thought they batted themselves to safety after Justin Greaves’ 180 helped the Caribbean side occupy the crease for a little over two sessions on the penultimate day, trimming the visitors’ first innings advantage to 50 runs before they were dismissed for 499.

The overnight pair of Greaves and Shai Hope resumed batting with Windies 318 for four and still trailing by 231. Once again, the discipline from the visiting bowlers meant they had to grind out every run during the morning session. 

Sri Lanka missed an opportunity for the perfect start after failing to review one Hope had feathered down the leg side to the wicketkeeper in the first over.

He capitalized on the opportunity, extending the fifth-wicket partnership with Greaves to 242. They eventually brought up individual milestones. The classy Hope was the first to raise his bat. He notched a fifth Test ton, his third since his recall to the side last summer and a first in the Caribbean. 

Greaves was made to wait a bit longer for what was his second hundred in the format, adding to a double. Significantly, Greaves was involved in every partnership thereafter, including a crucial 52-run stand with Roston Chase as Windies chipped away at the lead.

Alongside Hope, Greaves provided Sri Lanka with little to no chance, and with almost nothing on offer, the Sri Lankan orthodox spinner Sonal Dinusha decided to go over the wicket to exploit the rough outside the leg stump after an hour of play. 

With LBW no longer a concern, Hope appeared satisfied to play the ball with his pad. 

Only on one occasion, he missed the ball, which had drawn him forward before going through to ricochet off the keeper’s gloves and onto the stumps before Hope could get his foot back behind the line.

He was stumped for 112 half an hour before Lunch with the score on 386 for five.

Sri Lanka resorted to the short ball ploy immediately after the interval, and it paid dividends as they prised three wickets in the session. Asitha Fernando (5/130) was the star of the show, with the main plot being his battle with Roston Chase. 

The wicket of the Windies skipper would expose the tail with the lead still in excess of 100. And so it began. The first blow Chase took was to his right index finger on the second delivery of the session. 

Fernando then thought he had his man caught fending to short leg a few overs later, but the decision was overturned on review. The battle continued with the Sri Lankan quick landing another blow to Chase’s right hand, with more of the same. 

After receiving treatment for the second time in the spell, Chase was back up on his feet, but he survived only two more deliveries before Fernando found his outside edge with the third, leaving Kusal Mendis with little to do behind the stumps. 

Anderson Phillip’s stay at the wicket cost nothing and lasted just five balls before he too was sent back. Phillip took his eye off one from Fernando in the following over, only for the ball to take the glove, kick up onto the helmet, and fall into the hands of the point fielder. 

Alzarri Joseph, in the meantime, decided on a different approach. He tried to take on the short ball, but all he had to show for it was a maximum before he was taken pulling at fine leg for 13. 

The West Indies had suddenly lost three wickets for 27 to slip to 465 for eight. Greaves could have been the fourth casualty in the session after he was dropped on 151, clipping one to leg slip, who seemingly failed to hold on to the chance created by Prabath Jayasuriya.

The hosts entered the evening session still 71 runs behind. And Graves, running out of partners, tried to step on the accelerator. He managed to get his team to within 50 runs before falling to Jayasuriya as the Windies were dismissed for 499.