St John’s, Antigua – West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite batted all day to end on 99 not out as his team closed the opening day of the second Sandals Test match on 287-7 at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium.
The opener has so far spent 6 1/2 hours at the crease, faced 239 balls and hit 11 fours. In the process he became the 16th West Indian batsman to surpass 4 000 Test runs. Left-hander Kyle Mayers struck 49 while Rahkeem Cornwall is unbeaten 43 to offer good support.
Scoreboard: http://bit.ly/wivsl2ndtestscorecard
In the final session West Indies slipped to 222-7 but Brathwaite and Cornwall combined in an excellent unbroken 65-run eighth-wicket stand. Cornwall has so far hit six fours and a towering six over midwicket from 53 balls. For Sri Lanka, seamer Saranga Lakmal was again the best bowler with 3-71.
“Sri Lanka is a very disciplined bowling unit so for me it was about capitalising on the few bad balls and taking my time, letting the ball come to me. I always look to bat ‘time’… the runs will come once you’re out there,” Brathwaite said on the Sandals Player Zone after the day’s play.
He added: “This will be a very crucial first session tomorrow. Obviously, I would like to get a century, but I have to push on a look to get a big score … it’s all about batting for the team and leading from the front. We still have a lot of work to do … we need to build a bigger score. Cornwall played really well this evening and I know he is capable of adding even more runs so we will look to bat deep.”
Highlights available here https://bit.ly/2LQTuxt to Caribbean viewers on West Indies YouTube channel from tomorrow at 4 pm Eastern Caribbean Time/3 pm Jamaica Time.
The match continues on Tuesday at 10 am (9 am Jamaica Time).
