The decisive third Test between Sri Lanka A and West Indies A is heading for a close finish after a third day at the Saravanamuttu Stadium. West Indies ended the day with an overall lead of 126 runs and six wickets in hand. The slow left-armer Sajeewa Weerakoon tilted the scales slightly in favour of Sri Lanka when he snapped up the wickets of the opener Lendl Simmons for 52 and Marlon Samuels for 16 within nine runs of each shortly before the close for West Indies to finish on a shaky 114 for 4.
If they are to make any headway towards winning, Sri Lanka will need rely on Weerakoon: he has captured 22 wickets in the series so far. Earlier in the day, West Indies bowlers kept the free-scoring Sri Lankan batsmen pegged down with some tight bowling to give their team a slender 12-run lead at the end of the first innings.
Sri Lanka resumed at a promising 181 for 3 but failed to build on that total and were dismissed for 312 in reply to West Indies' first innings of 324. Shantha Kalavitigoda added only one to his overnight score of 74 before edging a catch to Simmons behind the wicket off Washington in the third over of the morning.
The captain Russel Arnold - who hit a match winning 159 in the second Test - and the vice-captain Prasanna Jayawardene followed in quick succession as Sri Lanka slid to 194 for 6 within 36 minutes of play in the morning. Washington grabbed two of the three wickets to fall at the end: he finished with figures of three for 31.
The slide was halted by the fast bowlers Farveez Maharoof (16) and Danushka Lokuhettige (57) who figured in a seventh-wicket stand that produced 59 runs. Weerakoon chipped in with a useful 27 not out, sharing a last-wicket stand of 38 with Suraj Mohamed which took Sri Lanka past the 300-run mark. The series stands tied at one-all with West Indies winning a at Dambulla by 57 runs and Sri Lanka at Colts grounds by an innings and 16 runs.
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