West Indies completed their first home Test series triumph for four years when the second and final match against Sri Lanka petered out into a tame, rain-affected draw on the last day at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua on Tuesday.
Needing victory to square the series after a crushing innings loss in the first Test a week earlier at the same venue, the tourists declared their second innings at 251 for nine just after lunch, setting their hosts the daunting target of 302 in less than two sessions for a sweep of the two-match duel.
However the West Indies’ opening pair of John Campbell and Brandon King put together an unbroken opening stand of 89, interrupted first by a brief shower and by longer, sustained precipitation which extinguished
any prospect of an outright result either way.
Fulfilling the often bewildering and tedious formalities of the traditional game in situations like this, play resumed in late afternoon for 40 minutes of aimless cricket when the match was called off as a draw with the West Indies at 109 with loss.
Both Campbell and King were unbeaten on 51 apiece.
West Indies’ last Test series win on home soil was a 2-0 hammering of Bangladesh in 2022 when comfortable victories were achieved at this venue and then at the Daren Sammy Stadium in St Lucia.
Their last series victory over Sri Lanka was in 2003 at home when they prevailed 1-0 in a similar two-match contest.
“I think this is, by far, my greatest achievement as a West Indies player,” said home captain Roston Chase before receiving the Sobers-Tissera Trophy, the symbol of Test supremacy between the two sides which was introduced for the series in Sri Lanka in 2015.
“Usually the bowlers do the hard work for the team but in this series the batsmen really stood out.”
“Not just hundreds but big hundreds. I believe if the batting can keep clicking consistently, given the quality of our bowling, we can once again become a top Test-playing nation,” he added.
West Indies now shift focus to a five-match one-day international series against New Zealand after which they return to the Test format for back-to-back matches against Pakistan in Trinidad.
Having not played any Test cricket for a year before this assignment in the Caribbean, the Sri Lankans return home for two Tests against India in Galle and Colombo, beginning in five weeks’ time.
(With inputs from AFP)
