Weerakoon spins Sri Lanka to victory

Sri Lanka A 417 (Arnold 159, Kalavitigoda 45, Wijekoon 62, Mohammed 4-107) defeated West Indies A 253 and 148 (Weerakoon 6-56) by an innings and 16 runs
Scorecard

Sri Lanka A bounced back immediately from their defeat at Dambulla, to rout West Indies A by an innings and 16 runs in the second unofficial Test at the Colombo Colts ground and level the series. Sri Lanka needed fewer than three days to wrap up victory and the three-match series is now intriguingly poised at 1-1 ahead of the final Test at the Saravanamuttu Stadium which starts on Tuesday.

It was a stunning reversal of form for a Sri Lanka A side which had, just five days ago, lacked direction when they threw away the first Test in spectacular style. This time they made no mistake, skittling out West Indies for a paltry 148 runs.

Earlier that day, Sri Lanka A extended their overnight score of 356 for 6 to were 417 all out shortly before lunch. Their captain Russel Arnold top scored with 159, which took him just under six hours. His innings contained 18 fours.

West Indies were under pressure when they started their second innings needing to bat out more than five sessions to save the match. But they succumbed to the spin of the leftarmer Sajeewa Weerakoon, who once again proved to be their nemesis. As at Dambulla, he took another match haul of nine wickets, and take his tally for the series to 18.

The 27-year-old Weerakoon who started the slide with a double blow in the third over after lunch. Firstly Xavier Marshall was caught behind by Prasanna Jayawardene for 3, then he trapped West Indies captain Darren Ganga lbw for a duck attempting a pull across the line.

With Weerakoon spinning his web from one end, Nuwan Zoysa and Dilhara Fernando applied the pressure from the other - and West Indies wickets fell at regular intervals. At one point they were 45 for 6, truly backs-to-the-wall stuff.

Runako Morton, who made a century in the first innings, attempted to stall the inevitable with a fighting knock of 31 in nearly an hour. But eventually he, too, fell to Weerakoon, after helping his team lift their total by 74 runs in partnerships with Dave Mohammed (28) and Dwight Washington (24).

Fittingly, it was Weerakoon who ended the match, inducing Washington's edge. This gave Jayawardene ten victims in the match (nine catches, one stumping) - and six in that innings alone. It was a splendid bowling performance from Weerakoon who has been fighting to be selected over the years, despite consistent performances for his domestic team BRC in the Premier trophy. The departure of leg-spinner Malinga Bandara, who shone against the `A' sides of England and Pakistan early this year, made room for Weerakoon in the A side, and he has performed creditably.