Tea Sri Lanka 204 for 5 (Dhananjaya 79*,Dinusha 42*, Shamar 2-42, Alzarri 2-43) vs West Indies

Dhananjaya de Silva's fighting 79 built on Dinesh Chandimal's 54 off 67, as Sri Lanka clawed their way to 204 for 5 by tea. They had suffered two double-strikes in the day, with Alzarri Joseph removing two top order batters in the 10th over, before Shamar Joseph claimed two wickets in the 26th over, soon after lunch. Kemar Roach had also struck with the very first over of the game.

Despite these setbacks, and although the pitch continued to assist seam bowlers, de Silva's innings brought substance to Sri Lanka's batting effort. He and Chandimal had earlier shared a 68-run stand for the fourth wicket, but Sonal Dinusha - playing his second Test - then joined him for the best partnership of the innings, as batting conditions eased slightly. They had put on 94 runs together by the end of the session, progressing with relative speed. In fact, Sri Lanka have scored at 4.26 runs per over, across the 48 overs bowled by the tea break.

De Silva had been confident from the outset. In the morning session he had defended well, and had played some assured straight drives to get himself moving, as Sri Lanka strove to recover from 42 for 3. Dinesh Chandimal was the primary aggressor in his first partnership, as Chandimal found boundaries through cover and point in particular. He hit 41 of the 68 runs they made together, and although not fluent in this particular innings, had kept Sri Lanka ticking through a difficult period. He appeared to be finding his touch as he crossed 50, but was bowled by an excellent Shamar yorker soon after.

Kusal Mendis, reaching for a full wide one, was caught at second slip later in that Shamar over. At 110 for 5, Sri Lanka were in danger of collapsing for a match-losing score.

De Silva got them out of that immediate danger with some sparkling shots square of the wicket, spanking one from Alzarri through point before pulling the same bowler imperiously through square leg two balls later. He had his outside edge beaten frequently, but also found singles and twos into the outfield to keep himself moving.

Sonal Dinusha was also severe on errors of length, especially on the offside. He had hit six fours by the tea break, four of them through backward point.

West Indies had emphatically won the first hour of the day, however. Two good Alzarri deliveries swung the match in West Indies's favour at the time. He nipped one back into Nishan Madushka's front pad to pin him in front of the stumps for 23, before having the dangerous Kamindu Mendis caught behind with a delivery in the channel outside off stump next ball.

Earlier, Roach had raised an lbw appeal against Pathum Nissanka, then dismissed him with the last ball of the over. Nissanka had attempted to flick a back-of-a-length ball on the pads, but failed to keep the shot down, sending it to Amir Jangoo at short leg, who held a sharp chance.