Lawson and Best give West Indies the edge

West Indies A 295 and 113 for 3 (Ramdass 52*) lead Sri Lanka A 258 (Jayawardene 55, Lawson 4-84) by 150 runs
Scorecard

Tino Best grabbed three important wickets on the second day © Getty Images

West Indies A held the edge over Sri Lanka A at the end of the second day's play at Dambulla after their fast bowlers had given them a useful 37-run lead on first innings. By the close West Indies had progress to 113 for 3 in their second innings, extending the advantage to 150.

Ryan Ramdass, an opening batsman from Guyana, was unbeaten on 52 after Gayan Wijekoon had removed Xavier Marshall and Daren Ganga, the two top-scorers from the first innings. Marlon Samuels added 70 for the third wicket with Ramdass but ran himself out rather needlessly after he had reached 37.

Resuming on 68 for 3 Sri Lanka were dismissed for 258 after struggling against the pace of Jermaine Lawson, Tino Best and Dwight Washington. The trio took eight wickets with Dave Mohammed, the left-arm spinner, picking up the remaining two scalps.

After the Sri Lankan spinners had grabbed eight wickets on the opening day it looked as if the slow bowlers would dominate the match. But today it was the West Indian pace bowlers' turn to show that if they bent their backs there was ample reward for them.

It was Lawson, the tall and rangy fast bowler from Jamaica, who caused a lot of discomfort to the batsmen with his searing pace on a bone dry pitch that still contained a tinge of green. Lawson finished with 4 for 84 off 16.4 overs, but it was Best who provided the initial breakthrough, half an hour into the morning session when Russel Arnold edged a catch behind for five.

Malintha Gajanayake and Prasanna Jayawardene overcame the early loss with a gritty fifth wicket stand of 73 before Lawson, returning for his second spell, removed them both. Gajanayake edged to gully after scoring a stylish 44 and Jayawardene yorked himself on 55.