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Paranavitana misses century as first test drawn

Opener Tharanga Paranavitana missed out on a century as the first test between Sri Lanka and West Indies was drawn on Friday after rain washed out the final session on the fifth day.

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Paranavitana fell for 95 as the hosts reached tea on 241 for four, a lead of 39. No resumption of play was possible after the break.

Paranavitana, dropped after he had made 53, and Mahela Jayawardene dug in with a third wicket stand of 87 on the final day to help secure a draw after Sri Lanka had followed on.

West Indies, thanks to career best 333 from Chris Gayle, had made 580 for nine declared in their first innings and then dismissed the home side for 378.

“We came here with a winning mindset. We did everything that we were supposed to do in this test match. We had a good chance of winning by putting some pressure on them,” said West Indies captain Darren Sammy.

“Like you saw our bowlers really toiled out there. The wicket was not really offering much assistance to the pacers. But I must commend the bowling unit for sticking out there and they created the opportunities. Their effort was good but unfortunately we didn’t get the ten wickets we wanted.”

Sammy helped end Paranavitana’s resistance, taking a simple catch at slip from the bowling of Shane Shillingford.

Jayawardene moved to his second half-century of the match by straight driving part-time spinner Brendan Nash for six but fell for 58 to the same bowler eight balls later when he drove too early and hit back a low return catch.

Thilan Samaraweera (19) and Angelo Mathews (5) were together when light rain forced the players to take an early tea.

West Indies started brightly in the morning and struck two early blows in the morning when Tillakaratne Dilshan and captain Kumar Sangakkara were dismissed within two overs of each other.

Sangakkara said his side’s below-par bowling in the first two sessions on the first day had allowed West Indies to take control of the test.

“The lines and the lengths we bowled on this track was not good enough for us to put any pressure on them, to get wickets or to cut down on the runs. Chris (Gayle) took a lot of advantage from that and he batted magnificently,” he said.

The second test starts in Colombo on Nov. 23.