West Indies 626 for 9 dec (Jangoo 233, Chase 194, Rathnayaka 5-124) beat Sri Lanka 308 (De Silva 120, Chandimal 54, Greaves 3-39) & 101 (Chandimal 43, Roach 4-51, Seales 3-14) by an innings and 217 runs
Gaining significantly more movement in the air and off the surface than Sri Lanka’s quicks had, West Indies’ fast bowlers threatened to take wickets right through day four’s 27.2 overs. It was Roach that was getting the ball to hoop most, however, finding massive inswing into the right-hander, often late in the ball’s trajectory, to threaten the pads and stumps of the right-handers he bowled to, and the outside edges of the left-handers.
After Roach opened the day’s wicket-taking in the first over, swinging a ball into Nishan Madushka’s pads, Seales struck in his own first over, getting nightwatcher Kasun Rajitha to edge to the cordon. Soon after, Shamar Joseph struck twice, pinging Kamindu’s off stump as he shouldered arms, before pinging Dhananjaya de Silva’s front pad to catch him lbw. Late in the session, Alzarri got himself a wicket too, in similar fashion. Having got a ball to leave Kusal, he had the next one jag back into Kusal, who had also let the ball hit his off stump uninterrupted.
Sri Lanka went to lunch at 81 for 6 and it only took West Indies 6.1 further overs to remove the remaining batters. Roach struck twice in two overs to get to his 300th, and after some strong words exchanged with Lahiru Kumara and Sonal Dinusha, Seales took the final wicket to complete a stunning victory.
West Indies, essentially, have dominated this Test from start to finish. And they were so spectacularly dominant in days three and four, they crushed an opponent that had been expected to compete.
