West Indies captain praises depleted bowling attack

West Indies captain Carl Hooper paid tribute to his depleted bowling attack after a dramatic first hour on the opening day of the second Test in Kandy which saw fast bowler Mervyn Dillon break down with a chest injury and Colin Stuart banned from bowling.

Dillon was unable to complete his third over because of sharp chest pains and difficulties breathing after each delivery. He returned in the afternoon to bowl a five over spell, but according to the management he was close to tears the pain was so great.

Stuart came on to finish Dillon's over, but bowled just three deliveries before being banned from bowling again in the innings by umpire John Hampshire following two high full tosses in his first three balls.

West Indies were left with just two frontline bowlers, but still managed to take four wickets in the morning and a further one in the afternoon before rain halted play with Sri Lanka on 193 for five.

"Sometimes you are faced with these situations and one of two things can happen," he said. "You can either capitulate as a team or one of the guys can put his hand up and say 'hey, I am going to take the brunt of it today.' I think Ramnarine did that remarkably well today.

"Coming into lunch with four wickets was just what we wanted but after lunch we struggled a little bit with just two bowlers.

"Considering what happened, to end the day with Sri Lanka on 193 for five was a pretty good effort."

Hooper was annoyed to miss out on an opportunity to put Sri Lanka under pressure on a juicy morning pitch.

"There was something there in the first hour and we started well with a wicket in the first over. It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if we had a fully fit Mervyn Dillon."

He remained philosophical about Stuart's enforced withdrawal.

"That is the ruling at the end of the day, but anyone who knows Stuart knows that it wasn't deliberate," he said. "The ball genuinely slipped out of his hand. Sometimes you would like to discretion to be used but at the end of the day they have to make the judgment based on the rules.

He now hopes for early wickets in the morning followed by a solid batting performance from his side who need to win to level the series.

"We would have liked more wickets, but I am not going to complain at 193 for five," he said. "If we can get a wicket early tomorrow morning and we can restrict them to something under 250 that would be ideal for us."

"Hopefully we will have Mervyn back as well as Stuart in the second innings, so if we can then build a good lead, we can put the Sri Lankans under some pressure."

Dillon is due to see a doctor tonight, with the management hoping for a clear diagnosis, which has been elusive so far, but on the evidence of this afternoon is unlikely to be able to play a full part tomorrow.