WI looking for victory on final day

The West Indies are on the attack as they look to push for a victory in the second Test match against Sri Lanka in Antigua.

At the start of the fourth day yesterday, West Indies picked up the final two Sri Lankan wickets in under 30 minutes and then, led by their captain Kraigg Brathwaite, proceeded to pile on the runs to declare on 280/4 and with a lead of 376 runs overall.

The rain seemingly put some added life in the pitch and this saw the West Indies bowlers making inroads in the Sri Lankan batting and the perfect start of the fourth day saw them take two wickets with less than five overs bowled.

Once again the foundation of the West Indies batting was led by their captain and opening batsman Brathwaite as he scored 85 runs to go along with his first innings score of 126 runs.

Brathwaite shared in a 44-run second wicket partnership with Jermaine Blackwood.

As Brathwaite was patient with his innings, Kyle Mayers was the opposite, racing to 55 to continue his consistent scoring in the series. It only took 76 balls for Mayers to reach 55 runs and shared in a third wicket partnership with Brathwaite that was worth 82 runs.

When Jason Holder joined Brathwaite in the middle the scoring was even faster as they shared an 87-run fourth wicket partnership before Brathwaite was bowled by a delivery that kept low.

Holder then went on to share in an unbeaten partnership with Joshua Da Silva, which was worth 53 runs off 42 balls as the declaration came with Holder on 71 runs off 88 deliveries and Da Silva on 20 runs from 16 balls.

The West Indies had just over 30 minutes to bowl at Sri Lanka and the openers Lahiru Thirimanne and Dimuth Karunaratne managed to see out the day and put on 29 runs.

The fifth and final day will begin today at 9:30 a.m. and the West Indies will be looking to attack in order to squeeze out a victory in the match and claim the series. (CG)

Summarised scores

Sri Lanka Target 377 runs.

Sri Lanka 2nd innings 29 for 0 (Thirimanne 17*, Karunaratne 11*) and 1st innings 258 (Thirimanne 55, Nissanka 51, Roach 3-58) trail West Indies 2nd innings 280 for 4 (Brathwaite 85, Holder 71*, Mayers 55, Lakmal 2-62) and 1st innings 354 (Brathwaite 126, Cornwall 73, Lakmal 4-94)

West Indies first innings lead was 96 runs.