West Indies v Sri Lanka, 2nd Test, Trinidad, 1st day
Fidel Edwards struck twice in quick succession to help West Indies salvage the first session after Sri Lanka's openers made a fluent start to the second Test at the Queen's Park Oval in Trinidad. West Indies were beginning to look ragged - they dropped catches and the new-ball bowlers struggled to control their line - but Edwards lifted them by dismissing Malinda Warnapura and Kumar Sangakkara as Sri Lanka went to lunch on 89 for 2.
Sri Lanka, however, won't be too concerned about the situation, for they were put in to bat on a grassy pitch, which offered pace, bounce and seam movement to West Indies' all-pace attack. Their openers - Warnapura and Michael Vandort - played and missed regularly but ensured that the steady supply of wayward deliveries was dispatched to the boundary. They added 62 at four runs per over before they were separated.
The opening partnership, however, was lucky to get off the mark for Daren Powell swung the second ball of the match into Vandort and hit the left-hander plumb in front but Billy Bowden turned the appeal down. The first three overs were tight from Powell and Jerome Taylor but Warnapura eventually cut loose with a flurry of boundaries, pulling Taylor twice when he pitched too short and cutting him when the line was wide. Vandort had played out two maiden overs from Powell before he too got into his stride with a flick to the midwicket boundary and an elegant square drive. Singles were rare but the boundaries flowed - the first five scoring shots were all fours.
West Indies' first chance of a break through came in the sixth over when Sri Lanka were on 21: Warnapura edged Taylor straight to third slip where Dwayne Bravo dropped a straightforward chance. Warnapura promptly drove Taylor to the cover boundary before nicking another one through the slips. Vandort was also reprieved on 10 by Powell when the bowler failed to latch on to a sharp return catch. Sri Lanka scored 60 in the first hour on a lively pitch, and West Indies were forced on the defensive: three slips became two and Gayle employed a fielder on the cover-point boundary and brought himself on in the 14th over.
Edwards was one of the changes West Indies had made for this match, opting for the extra fast bowler instead of the left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn. He was rewarded for consistently probing in the channel outside off stump when he found the outside edge Warnapura's forward push and this time the catch was taken at third slip by Sewnarine Chattergoon, who was making his Test debut on his 27th birthday. In his next over, Kumar Sangakkara nicked one to Denesh Ramdin and Sri Lanka had been reduced to 72 for 2.
The passage of play after Mahela Jayawardene came to the crease was interrupted by two sizeable delays because of adjustments to the sightscreen and advertisement hoardings behind the bowler's arm, and it began to rain as the players trooped off for lunch. A scoreline of 89 for 2 suggests an even session but given the assistance the pitch was offering to the fast bowlers, West Indies will feel they should have got a few more wickets.
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