West Indies sealed a 1-0 victory over Sri Lanka on Tuesday, their first test series win in three years, after the rain-affected second and final test in North Sound ended in a draw.
Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat, piling up 549-9 before declaring their first innings, with opener Lahiru Udara top-scoring for the tourists with 188.
West Indies replied with 499, built on centuries from player-of-the-match Justin Greaves (180) and Shai Hope (112).
Sri Lanka then declared their second innings on 251-9, but repeated rain delays denied either side the chance of forcing a decisive result in a high-scoring contest. The 1,408 runs scored in the match are the most in a test match involving West Indies and Sri Lanka.
Having already won the opening test at the same ground by an innings and 217 runs, West Indies claimed their first test series triumph since 2023.
“We sit down and we plan for this Test Championship and we said last year it was going to be tough and it was tough,” home captain Roston Chase said after West Indies’ first victory in the current World Test Championship cycle.
“But we said this year we think that the two series at home especially, these are series that we’ll be looking to dominate and to win. So I just want the guys to continue from this and let this be a stepping stone.”
“And not just leave it there and think, ‘oh, we won one series and that’s enough’. I think we need to just have that consistency. I think winning games consistently, that would be great for us in terms of growth.”
Sri Lanka captain Dhananjaya de Silva conceded his spinners had drawn little help from the pitch.
“How to take 20 wickets, that’s the only thing in my mind when playing test cricket. For that we have to have that x-factor, to take wickets at anytime,” he said.
(Reuters)
