Herath, whose first-innings figures were six for 68, then added another wicket at the start of the second West Indies innings as they reached stumps 166 behind with eight wickets remaining.
Herath's dominant day began in the third over when he bowled Marlon Samuels for 11, leaving West Indies 70 for three.
Talk to us about your debut series, historical occasion. The tour almost got cancelled. How did you feel your preparation was as a 19 year old given the circumstances that preceded that South African tour in 1998?
I was really a blue eyed boy and raw in terms of my exposure to international cricket. I had recently captained a team to the United Kingdom and had done well with the bat, that propelled me straight into the Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) senior trials and I performed very well at the trials that led me to making my first class debut in 1997 for the Senior T&T team.
Around the same time Brian Lara was at the top of his game as an international cricketer and was leading the West Indian team and was desperately looking for young talented cricketers to build a team and build the future for West Indian cricket. It so happened my timing fell in synch with his effort and what he saw in me sparked an interest. In 1998 I scored my maiden first class hundred in my 7th first class match against Barbados.
In those days, anyone who scores runs against Barbados was given a little more attention. That performance selected me on that international squad to tour South Africa in 1998 without much first class experience. The whole premise of my selection was to blood a young player and provide him with opportunities and expose him to the international arena.
Rangana Herath bowled Sri Lanka back into the dominant position achieved by Dimuth Karunaratne and Dinesh Chandimal's double-century stand and squandered somewhat by a collapse that cost them their last seven wickets for 59 runs. At the end of an action-packed second day, West Indies were 66 for 2, trailing Sri Lanka by 418 runs.
The quick demolition of Sri Lanka's lower order raised West Indies' spirits when they came out to bat, and the openers got off to a solid start against the quicks, with three fours coming off the second over, bowled by a Nuwan Pradeep erring generously on the full side. But Herath, introduced as early as the sixth over, pulled West Indies back down to earth with his ability to beat both edges.
In his very first over, he had Kraigg Brathwaite adjudged lbw with one that turned sharply from leg to off, only for Hawkeye to rule the ball had pitched marginally outside leg stump. In his next over he sent down the arm ball, which snaked past the inside edge of Brathwaite's defensive bat and rapped into his front pad. This time the batsman didn't even review.
An unbeaten century from Dimuth Karunaratne ensured Sri Lanka negotiated the opening day of the series with a sense of calm and lost only two wickets on a slow Galle pitch. Sri Lanka grew increasingly dominant as the day progressed. The final session produced over 43% of the runs they scored on the day, and ended with a punchy Karunaratne straight drive that took the score from 246 to 250.
West Indies did themselves no good by dropping two catches in the middle session. The first spill didn't cost them - Lahiru Thirimanne, the reprieved batsman, was disimissed soon after - but the other - a backtracking Jerome Taylor failing to grasp Dinesh Chandimal at mid-on when he miscued an attempted pull off Devendra Bishoo - certainly did. Chandimal, who was on 11 at that point, went on to end the day unbeaten on 72, having added 149 with Karunaratne.
Karunaratne's innings was a triumph of restraint and adherence to a simple plan. In the morning session, he left resolutely when the ball was angled across him, and didn't get lured into indiscretion outside off even when the quicks went around the wicket. He read the lengths well, picking up most of his runs with checked drives through cover - he rarely went hard at the ball while playing this stroke, mindful of the slowness of the pitch - and glides and cuts behind point. Against the legspinner Bishoo, he used his feet well, coming down the track to either whip him with the turn or to get close enough to the pitch of the ball to smother any potential misbehaviour out of the rough.
IN October, the northeast monsoon begins to creep in from the Bay of Bengal and turns Sri Lanka into a vast network of closely-spaced puddles. This is excellent for the nation’s paddy farmers, whose fields are made fit for replanting. It is less good for cricketers, whose fields are made fit for marine exploration. Spectators are advised to take umbrellas to any match in Sri Lanka, but going by the history of series scheduled for this time of year, snorkeling gear might not be unwise either.The teams have come to understand they are in for a wet series. In addition to having much of the two most recent weeks indoors, they have also shared a rich and storied history of being holed up in dressing rooms. West Indies’ first-ever Test in Sri Lanka in 1993 was so beset by bad weather it barely entered its third innings. Their most recent Test on the island did not make it past the first.
That 2010 tour saw more hours of rain than cricket.The groundstaff were also fitter than the athletes by the end of it.
Maybe it’s the knowledge that the coming series will probably go the same way that this West Indies side barely turned up for the three-day warm-up match, in which they were comfortably outperformed.
The SLC’s only remaining solution to this recurring issue may be to demand Mother Nature stop scheduling monsoons in cricket season. Even this seems more likely to evince a positive response than asking the ICC for help with adjusting the cricket schedule.
