Resuming the innings on the final day at 20-1, they were shot out for 171 with more than a session to spare.
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The Lankan victory was propelled by impressive efforts by left arm spinners Rangana Herath and Milinda Siriwardana who shared seven wickets between them.
“At that stage (80 for one) we were pretty much in control, but we lost wickets”.
“I have been working on my bowling a lot in the nets and I wanted to make a contribution to the team”.
“We didn’t rebuild when we had to rebuild”. Sri Lanka made 206 in its second innings.
“They worked with their strengths and put a few pressure on us, and we gave in to that pressure at that stage”.
Having been decimated in the first Test, the tourists will be keen to bounce back.
The home side headed into the series against West Indies without former captain Kumar Sangakkara, now retired coach Marvan Atapattu, after he resigned. The performance was the best by a West Indian in Sri Lanka.
Left-hander Darren Bravo top-scored with a fluent 61 while opener Shai Hope got 35, the pair adding 60 for the second wicket. Bravo’s runs came off 92 balls with three boundaries and two sixes.
Expressing concerns over the batting department, Holder urged the batsmen to take the responsibility going forward.
With an unbeaten 20 from 27 balls, including three fours, Warrican took the fight to Sri Lanka until he ran out of partners.
Jomel Warrican, one of the few positives in an otherwise dark series for West Indies, summoned some late blows in a last-wicket partnership of 33 to only delay Sri Lanka’s victory.
“I think we need to work on our temperament”.
That left the Windies on 125-6 and Sri Lanka’s win looked all but secured when captain Jason Holder (7), Jerome Taylor (1) and Devendra Bishoo (0) all fell in consecutive overs.
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“Rangana Herath has enough experience…”
