Atapattu's hundred puts Sri Lanka in charge
Marvan Atapattu drives on his way to a century Marvan Atapattu's 11th Test century gave Sri Lanka the upper hand on the first day of the first Test - the inaugural match at the Beausejour Stadium in Gros Islet, St Lucia
Wisden CricInfo staff
20-Jun-2003
Close Sri Lanka 250 for 4 (Atapattu 108*, Sangakkara 56, Jayawardene 45) v West Indies
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Marvan Atapattu drives on his way to a century |
Atapattu was his usual steady self, hitting 13 fours in his 242-ball stay. He put on 108 with Kumar Sangakkara (56), then added 68 with Mahela Jayawardene - still battling with his form after a run of low scores - who made 45.
The first man to go was Sanath Jayasuriya, the former captain, who has been struggling for his best form on this tour (he didn't manage a half-century in the three one-day internationals). He hade made only 8 when he chopped a wide delivery from Corey Collymore straight to gully, where Omari Banks took a good sharp catch (19 for 1).
West Indies' only success of the afternoon session was the dismissal of Sangakkara, shortly after a heated exchange with Brian Lara, who accused him of deliberately scuffing up the pitch by running on the danger area. Sangakkara, who had raised the tempo of the Sri Lankan innings in the morning after Jayasuriya went, cracked six fours. But eventually he was trapped leg-before as he shouldered arms to a Chris Gayle offbreak (127 for 2).
Jayawardene regained some sort of form before he edged Banks's offspin to slip, where Lara plunged to take a fine catch (195 for 3). Then, as the clouds that eventually brought an early finish closed in, Sri Lanka's captain Hashan Tillakaratne misjudged one from Collymore and inside-edged it into his stumps (228 for 4).
The pitch is already beginning to take spin, which would have pleased the watching Muttiah Muralitharan. If Atapattu can keep going tomorrow, Sri Lanka will be strong favourites to lift the first match of this short two-Test series. It already looks an uphill struggle for West Indies, who gave a debut to Jerome Taylor, a 18-year-old fast bowler from Jamaica. He was sharp, but a tendency to send down one bad ball an over meant he proved rather expensive - 76 runs came from his 18 wicketless overs.