Spinners help West Indies crush Sri Lanka in first Test

Sri Lanka suffered a stunning batting collapse as they suffered a crushing 226-run defeat in the first Test against West Indies in Port of Spain, on Sunday.

Set a huge target of 453 for victory, Sri Lanka looked on course at one stage on 189 for three in the morning session on the fifth and final day. However, they lost their way after the dismissal of centurion Kusal Mendis, losing their last five wickets for eight runs in the space of 26 balls to be bundled out for 226 just after lunch, suffering their first Test match defeat at the hands of the Caribbean side for ten years.

Off-spinner Roston Chase triggered the collapse in the company of Devendra Bishoo, who claimed three for 48.

His dismissal of Chandimal in the last over before the lunch interval broke the back of the tourists' resistance and he claimed three of the last four wickets to fall to finish with impressive figures of four for 15 in 8.2 overs.

Sri Lanka started off the final day brightly, as Mendis, who resumed on 94, completed a deserved fifty Test century with Sri Lanka looking solid on 176 for three.

However, their hopes of chasing down the world record target effectively ended with Mendis's dismissal, who was caught behind for 102 off pacer Shannon Gabriel.

They suffered further loss of three more wickets before the lunch break, including two off the final over of the session bowled by Chase.

Nightwatchman Lahiru Gamage had fallen leg before to leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo after a stubborn resistance of more than an hour as he played out 49 deliveries, scoring just three runs, however, the death knell was really sounded for the Sri Lankans when Chase accounted for both Chandimal and Niroshan Dickwella in the space of five deliveries.

Chandimal was forced to curtail his innings on Saturday afternoon when on 15 because he was feeling unwell.

He resumed after the fall of Mendis and showed no signs of further discomfort in getting to 27 until a flighted delivery from Chase tempted him into attempting to heave over midwicket only for the miscue to offer a simple catch to Kraigg Brathwaite at short mid-on.

Within minutes he was joined by Dickwella in the dressing room as the wicketkeeper-batsman was trapped palpably leg-before by a quicker delivery from Chase.

Brief Scores:

Sri Lanka: 185 and 226 all out (K Mendis 102, R Chase 4-15, D Bishoo 3-48).

West Indies: 414-8 dec and 223-7 dec.