The West Indies and Sri Lanka played to an exciting draw in the 1st Test match which ended on Thursday 25th March at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Stadium in Antigua.
West Indies needing a mammoth 375 for victory, reached 236 for 4 before the Sri Lankan captain Dimuth Karunaratne called it a day.
The two teams will now prepare for the second Sandals Test match which starts on Monday 29th at the same venue. First ball daily is 10.00 a.m.
Meanwhile, Nkrumah Bonner scored a monumental maiden Test century and batted throughout the final day to guide West Indies to a well-earned draw. Chasing 375 for victory, West Indies started the last day on at 34 for 1, and Bonner batted all day to make 113 not out.
He provided the solid anchor the home team needed, first putting on 66 with his captain Kraigg Brathwaite (23) for the second wicket, then finding 105 for the fourth wicket with Kyle Mayers. Near the close he added 32 with Jason Holder (13 not out) to ensure the draw.
Left-handed Mayers scored 52 with five boundaries of 113 balls – which followed up his first innings 45 – but was out in the first over after tea.
Jermaine Blackwood followed soon after for just four, West Indies slipped to 204 for 4. However, there was no alarm as Bonner stayed calm and carried on until the close of play at 5:18 p.m. He spent eight balls on 99 before going to his maiden century with a cover-drive for four off Vishwa Fernando. At that point the 32-year-old, playing only his sixth Test innings, had faced 243 balls and hit 11 fours and a six.
Bonner has been very consistent since his Test debut in the historic series win in Bangladesh last month. On debut in Chattogram he made 17 and 86 and followed up with 90 and 38 in the second match in Dhaka. Here, he made 31 in the first innings and added Thursday’s century.
Overall, he has now made 375 runs at an impressive average of 75 per innings.
Bonner: “It’s truly special to me. This was my childhood dream and I’m really happy to get this monkey off my back. Personally, in the first innings my feet weren’t moving as much as I wanted them to.
I did some work in the nets with the batting coach. The Sri Lankan bowlers are very disciplined so it was important for me to construct my innings with discipline,” he said after receiving the Sandals Player-of -the Match award.
Scores in the match, Sri Lanka 169 and 476; West Indies 271 and 236 for the loss of 4 wickets.
