Half centuries from captain Rivaldo Clarke, Mavendra Dindyal and Shaqkere Parris have given the West Indies Academy a slight advantage over Sri Lanka’s Emerging Players at the halfway mark of the first unofficial ‘Test’ here on Tuesday.
Clarke ended the day unbeaten on 72, Dindyal scored 60 and Parris stroked 55, as the visitors finished the day on 273 for five in reply to Sri Lanka’s first innings total of 356.
The Windies were given a decent start by openers Mbeki Joseph and Damel Evelyn, with the pair adding 42 runs inside six overs.
Pacer Nisala Abeyratne eventually broke the stand when he held on to a return catch to dismiss Joseph for 13. Dindyal joined Evelyn at the crease and the two maintained the momentum during a 40-run partnership. When off spinner Chamod Battage had Evelyn caught behind for an aggressive 35 off 29 balls, it led to a minor collapse which saw the Windies slip from 82 for one to 134 for four.
Left-arm spinner Shakthi Udara was the main architect, trapping Kevlon Anderson lbw for two, before having Dindyal caught and bowled for a well-played 60 off 79 balls that contained six fours and one six.
However, Clarke and Parris came to their side’s rescue with a crucial partnership of 115 runs for the fifth wicket that put them back on track.
The Windies looked to be cruising on 249 for five, when Udara struck again to remove Parris shortly after he reached his half century. In all he faced 115 balls and hit three fours.
Amari Goodridge ensured there would be no further losses, as he finished the day on 14 not out, while Clarke has so far faced 132 balls and struck seven fours and one six in his innings.
Udara has been the pick of the Sri Lankan bowlers with 3-85.
Earlier, resuming the day on 302 for eight, Sri Lanka added 54 valuable runs for the last two wickets.
Overnight batters Anjala Bandara and Nisala Abeyratne extended their partnership to 142 runs before the latter was run out two runs short of a well-deserved half century.
Last man Battage contributed just one run in his partnership of 21 for the last wicket with Bandara, who was trapped lbw by Ryan Bandoo for 163 off 217 balls, with 19 boundaries to bring the innings to a close.
Bandoo ended with 3-45, Johann Layne took 3-68 and Jediah Blades 2-83.