SECOND TEST: Kusal Mendis, Dinusha make it Sri Lanka’s day

Sri Lanka batted a touch over two sessions on day two before eventually declaring on 549 for 9, while West Indies in their response ended the day on 58 for 1, trailing by 491 runs, with Brandon King the only batter to fall.

John Campbell was at the crease on 31 off 77 with Kavem Hodge (6 off 41) alongside him, as they sought to blunt the Lankan attack towards the close of play.

Even so Sri Lanka will rue some missed opportunities, two off Hodge and one off Campbell.

Campbell’s was the toughest of the chances, as a top edged pull gave Isitha Wijesundara plenty of ground to cover from fine leg. Always on the move, he was uncertain about whether to go for the catch or not and eventually ended up bailing on the chance in favour of stopping the boundary – something he failed to do in any case.

The next was a similarly tough chance as Hodge’s top-edged pull was nearly taken by a diving Sonal Dinusha at fine leg, where having got his hands to it he was unable to hold on.

But the most straightforward opportunity came in the final half hour of play, as the probing Milan Rathnayaka induced a thick edge straight to second slip, who spilled it having been briefly unsighted by Kusal Mendis’ flashing right glove in his field over view. The fielder was Udara, who himself had been dropped owing to similar bit of confusion in the slips cordon on day one.

The one chance Sri Lanka took ironically came courtesy some excellent catching, as Asitha Fernando got King nicking behind and Kamindu Mendis at second slip held on to a low chance. Prior to that scalp West Indies had got off to a reasonable start, putting on 33 for the first wicket.

Twelve of those runs came in an expensive Wijesundara over, as King took on the debutant in style. Wijesundara was perhaps guilty of striving for movement with the fuller ball, something which Campbell also capitalised on later with a sumptuous inside-out drive for six. But aside from that, for the most part, Sri Lanka gave little away as they produced a disciplined outing with the ball, one that they know should have produced more wickets.

The day as a whole however belonged to Sri Lanka, who built on the platform set on the opening day to rack up a further 211 runs on day two. Leading their charge was the pair of Kusal Mendis and Dinusha, who put on a stand of 143 off 246. Both passed fifty along the way, though Dinusha would have been gutted to have fallen eight runs short of a maiden Test ton, to go with his maiden Test fifty. (cricinfo)