ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Jason Holder had excellent figures of 5-27 as West Indies took full control over Sri Lanka on the opening day of the first Sandals Test match on Sunday. The tall seam bowler engineered a batting collapse as the last five wickets fell for 19 runs as the visitors were bowled out for 169 on a good surface at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium.
Holder registered his eighth five-wicket haul in Tests off 17.4 overs and in the process reached 200 first-class wickets. He was supported by Kemar Roach who took 3-47, to move to 33 wickets at this venue in his sixth match.
Holder started by having Dinesh Chandimal caught at the wicket by Josh Da Silva just before lunch to leave Sri Lanka at 54-3. He later accounted for top scorer Lahiru Thirimanne, who was bowled for 73 – which came off 180 balls and included four boundaries.
West Indies batted through the final hour to reach 13-0 at the close, with captain Kraigg Brathwaite on three not out and John Campbell on seven not out.
Speaking on the Sandals Player Zone, Holder said: “It’s very pleasing, the ball came out very well, my rhythm was very good, and I also managed to get some movement off the pitch, so it was great to get among the wickets and pick up a five-for on the first day. We bowled really well, and we couldn’t have asked for much more. The discipline I showed with the ball was the key. Hopefully, going on later in the game I could make another major contribution with bat and with the ball.”
He added: “It was really good to see the batsmen fighting it through this evening as well, in what was a very important period. We want to go on tomorrow and set up a big total. That would be important for us as well. We were also very good in the field.”
