WI bowled out for 147

Earlier, the Sri Lankan bowlers vindicated their captain’s decision to field as West Indies struggled to 94 for five at lunch.

At lunch, Carl Hooper was unbeaten on 50 alongside Ian Bishop, who was two not out after being promoted to seven, at the interval on a day of hazy sunshine.

Gaining bounce and a bit of movement on a hard, true pitch, Sri Lankan bowlers, led by pacer Ravindra Pushpakumara, removed four West Indies batsmen in the first hour of a match being contested at the world’s 78th Test venue.

Within the first half-hour, West Indies’ innings was in shambles at five for three.

Pushpakumara, his bowling action patterned off Pakistani Waqar Younis, removed opening batsman Stuart Williams, top-edging a hook to wicketkeeper Romesh Kaluwitharana, and left-hander Floyd Reifer, lbw on the backfoot to his well-pitched first ball, both for noughts.

The biggest blow came when Brian Lara, trying to turn a ball from left-arm fast medium bowler Sajeewa de Silva, offered a return catch to the bowler.Hooper and opening batsman Sherwin Campbell began to pull West Indies out of trouble with a volley of strokes.

However, off-spin bowler Kumara Dharmasena, produced an unplayable bouncing first ball which Campbell steered to slip fielder Roshan Mahanama to be dismissed for 20 on the hour.

West Indies are playing the same eleven that won at St. John’s, while Attapattu and Sanjeeva Ranatunga have replaced Russell Arnold and the injured Hashan Tillekeratne in the Lankan side.

SCOREBOARD (at lunch)

WEST INDIES (1st innings): S Campbell c Mahanama b Dharmasena 20, S Williams c Kaluwitharana b Pushpakumara 0, F Reifer lbw Pushpakumara 0, B Lara c and b S de Silva 1, C Hooper not out 50, R Holder c Atapattu b Muralitharan 16, I Bishop not out 2, Extras: (b-3, nb-2) 5; Total: (for 5 wickets, in 26 overs): 94

Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-2, 3-5, 4-34, 5-92

Bowling: S de Silva 9-2-30-1, Pushpakumara 8-1-29-2, Dharmasena 6-0-25-1, Muralitharan 3-0-7-1