Gayle impressive before rain intervenes

Left-hand opener Chris Gayle powered his way towards a century, but rain intervened again on the second day of the West Indies last practice game at Matara on Friday.

Dark clouds had skirted menacingly around this coastal ground all day before finally encircling during the tea interval and forcing the abandonment of the final session.

West Indies, though disappointed to have missed two precious hours of batting practice, would have been delighted by what play there was.

Sri Lanka A started the day on 216-5, but added only 53 more runs, as leg-spinner Dinanath Ramnarine picked up three wickets, to finish with four in the innings.

Then, on a easy paced pitch, the West Indian openers, Gayle and Daren Ganga, provided fresh hope that they may be able to bridge the large void left by the retirement of Desmond Haynes and Gordon Greenidge, when they added 134 runs for the first wicket.

The pair, complimenting each other by their contrasting styles, hurtled along at nearly five runs an over. Ganga was solid in defense, preferring to work singles and rotate the strike, whilst Gayle's innings was ruthlessly high-powered.

Gayle, who has played 11 Tests to date at 36.35 and has lofty ambitions (he said recently that "breaking Lara's Test record of 375 is my ultimate"), may look slightly awkward because of his great height and hunched stance, but with little flourish he hits the ball with thunderous power.

He finished the day four runs short of his century having scored 96 off 92 balls and hit 17 fours. Ganga, dismissed for a duck in the first warm-up game, is on 27 off the same number of balls.

The pair coped easily with a Sri Lankan bowling attack, which has been packed full of fast bowlers on a bland pitch that cried out for spinners. Sri Lanka A, though, were reluctant to give the West Indian batsmen exposure to spin before next weeks first Test and played just a solitary young leg-spinner.

So, although runs are runs and the manner in which they came were mighty impressive, the satisfaction gained from this sturdy opening partnership by the West Indies management should be tempered by the reality that the team faces very different challenges ahead.

In the morning, the West Indian fast bowlers had operated in tandem with the leg-spin of Ramanarine and quickly moped up the Sri Lankan innings.

Suresh Perera had batted with his captain, Hashan Tillakaratne, with unusual responsibility and added 66 runs for the sixth wicket, but he couldn't resist the slow bowling of Ramarine and was stumped for 27, as he danced down the wicket in the wrist spinners first over of the day.

Tillakaratne, 74 not out overnight, never regained the fluency of yesterday and faced 75 balls his 12 runs today, before Reon King picked up his first wicket of the match.

Colin Stuart, who suffered from leg cramps in both legs after his 12 overs yesterday, did not bowl, but that was only because he had been off the field for so long the previous day and he is not considered an injury concern.