Sri Lanka skipper Dimuth Karunaratne expressed happiness after his side defeated West Indies in the first Test of the two-match series. Ramesh Mendis scalped five wickets as Sri Lanka defeated West Indies by 187 runs in the first Test of the two-match series here at the Galle International Stadium on Thursday. "It's a great Test for me. I'm playing after a long time and I didn't even play any club cricket recently. I think youngsters are gaining experience from the experienced guys and we have guys like Mathews and Chandimal and spinners did a good job. The fast bowlers didn't get many overs but they did the job with the ball," said Dimuth Karunaratne in a post-match presentation.
"The last couple of months there were heavy rains and we weren't sure how the wicket was gonna behave and that's why we picked two pacers. We will see how the conditions are for the next one before thinking about team selections. We need to carry on the good work and I have some targets to achieve and I'm glad that we are playing well as a unit," he added.
Coming to the match, resuming Day 5 on 52/6, overnight batters Joshua Da Silva and Nkrumah Bonner grinded it out and the duo added 66 more runs to the total, leading the visitors' fightback.
However, right on the cusp of lunch break, Lasith Embuldeniya got the better of Joshua Da Silva (54) and Windies was reduced to 118/7, still needing 230 to win.
After the lunch break, Praveen Jayawickrama got the better of Rahkeem Cornwall (13) and Sri Lanka was just two wickets away from victory.
The last two batters were dismissed cheaply and in the end, Sri Lanka registered a 187-run win to gain a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.