For the first time since February 2023, West Indies secured a Test series victory as the second fixture against Sri Lanka in Antigua ended in a high-scoring draw to give them a 1-0 series win. This was also West Indies' first Test series victory over Sri Lanka in 23 years.
Following theemphatic innings win in the opening fixture at the same venue, West Indies went into the second game with the rare opportunity of a series win.
With the onus on Sri Lanka to push for a result, West Indies batters showed no real urgency all through the high-scoring game on a benign surface.
On the final day, Sri Lanka showed some batting intent. They quickly pushed forward from an overnight score of 92/2 with captain Dhananjaya de Silva, Sonal Dinusha and Milan Rathnayake all making brief but breezy contributions. The idea seemed to be to take a lead that would be beyond West Indies' grasp while also giving their own bowlers enough time to attempt a late push for a win. West Indies tried everything in their powers to slow them down with defensive bowling lines. But Sri Lanka took 139 runs in the morning session, scored at 5.79 runs an over. Wickets came with the risks they took but the lead swelled, which was the purpose of the ploy at that point. They went to Lunch with a lead of 281, and then returned to push it past 300 before declaring.
Though Sri Lanka pacers got some uneven bounce, nothing truly troubled West Indies openers John Campbell and Brandon King. There were two short, passing showers that brought a halt to the game around Tea, but neither could cause a permanent disruption as play could resume on both occasions. Between these two intermissions, Prabath Jayasuriya and Sri Lanka believed they trapped King leg before and the umpire seemed to concur, only for a review from the batter to defy them all.
In the final session, both King and Campbell got past their respective fifties with ease, and a couple of overs later the teams shook hands for a draw.
Brief Scores:Sri Lanka 549/9 decl. (Lahiru Udara 188, Sonal Dinusha 92, Kamindu Mendis 84; Jayden Seales 2-98, Shamar Joseph 2-98) & 251/9 decl. (Dinesh Chandimal 71, Kamindu Mendis 44; Alzarri Joseph 2-44) drew with West Indies 499 (Justin Greaves 180, Shai Hope 112; Asitha Fernando 5-130) & 109/0 (John Campbell 51*, Brandon King 51*)
