18 October,2015 01:26 AM IST | | AFP
Sri Lankan spin bowler Rangana Herath's 10-wicket match haul helped the hosts crush the West Indies by an innings and six runs on Saturday to decisively win the first Test at Galle with a day to spare
Sri Lankan spinner Rangana Herath (left) celebrates West Indies Devendra Bishoo's dismissal with teammate Lahiru Thirimanna in Galle on Saturday
Galle: Sri Lankan spin bowler Rangana Herath's 10-wicket match haul helped the hosts crush the West Indies by an innings and six runs on Saturday to decisively win the first Test at Galle with a day to spare.
Sri Lankan spinner Rangana Herath (left) celebrates West Indies Devendra Bishoo's dismissal with teammate Lahiru Thirimanna in Galle on Saturday. Pic/AFP
The visitors were bowled out for 227 in the second innings, just an hour and 15 minutes after lunch on the fourth day of a Test which saw Herath wreak havoc throughout.
He finished with second innings figures of four for 79, after taking six for 68 in the first innings, in which the tourists were all out for 251 and forced to follow on after Sri Lanka amassed 484 in their first innings.
Herath's fifth 10-wicket haul in his 64th Test put him just 11 wickets shy of becoming the third Sri Lankan to snag 300 Test wickets.
After starting the day on 67 for two, the West Indies never managed to build up enough momentum to challenge the hosts, as Jermaine Blackwood, the last man out for 92, provided the lone resistance on a day of abject surrender by the West Indies batsmen. His innings included 10 fours and three sixes.
Brief scores
Sri Lanka 484 beat West Indies 251 & 227 (J Blackwood 92, K Brathwaite 34, DM Bravo 31; R Herath 4-79, D Prasad 2-28, M Siriwardana 2-60) by innings and 6 runs
