Lunch Sri Lanka 549 for 9 dec and 231 for 8 (Chandimal 71, Kamindu 44, Dhananjaya 34, Alzarri 2-44) lead West Indies 499 (Greaves 180, Hope 112, Asitha 5-130) by 281 runs
Sri Lanka came out on the final morning of the second Test on the front foot, still harbouring hopes of pushing for an unlikely victory, as they struck 139 runs in the first session. Though they lost six wickets - comfortably the most in a single session this Test - that will not bother them too much as they seek to set West Indies an enticing target and make a game of this.
In that sense, a declaration is a distinct possibility over the lunch break, a view supported by the proactive approach of all their batters. Ten boundaries came off the bat, including three sixes, were scored across the 24-over session, as Sri Lanka ticked along at 5.79 runs an over. This was despite West Indies' best efforts of defensive bowling, as the seamers peppered lines wide of off allied with a stacked 7-2 offside and the spinners stuck to leg stump lines.
In this context, each of the wickets to fall were not in keeping with how the previous four days had transpired. Kamindu Mendis spliced a top-edge looking to crash an offside length ball from Jayden Seales, Dhananjaya de Silva holed out to long-off, while both Dinesh Chandimal and Kusal Mendis carved chances straight to gully. Sonal Dinusha, meanwhile, was run out courtesy of a direct hit from deep point as he strained to make it back for an ambitious second run.
And as the innings wore on, the running became increasingly more desperate, with Sri Lanka striving for every run possible, a game starting to resemble more the latter overs of a 50-over game than the final day of a two-match Test series.
In between, Chandimal reached his 36th Test fifty, and his third on tour. Kamindu, meanwhile, fell six short of a sixth Test fifty.
Debutant Isitha Wijesundara briefly showed a glimpse of his power-hitting with a flat-bat strike down the ground for six in the penultimate over before lunch, but upon attempting a repeat, his off stump was knocked back. His was the last wicket before the break, with Sri Lanka walking off shortly after with an innings run rate of 5.02 - and a potential declaration in the offing.
