Antigua: A dogged half-century from Nkrumah Bonner kept alive the West Indies’ hopes of at least forcing a draw in the first Test against Sri Lanka as the home side reached 91 for two at lunch on the fifth day in Antigua.
Bonner reached his third Test fifty in the last over of the session as the West Indies crawled towards the target of 375 to win the match at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium.
He was at the crease for almost three hours and hit five boundaries during his 127-ball vigil.
Bonner will resume in the afternoon session alongside Kyle Mayers who came in 20 minutes before lunch after the Sri Lankans struck for the only time in the morning session with the wicket of Kraigg Brathwaite.
Having batted with exaggerated care in getting to 23 off 124 balls, the West Indies captain charged down the pitch at left-arm spinner Lasith Embuldeniya to be bowled, ending a stubborn second-wicket partnership of 66.
Sri Lankan captain Dimuth Karunaratne deployed all of his frontline bowlers in short spells on another sweltering morning, made only slightly less oppressive by light showers which delayed the start of play by 15 minutes.
Mayers and Bonner were famously involved on debut in a fourth-wicket partnership of 216 which set the West Indies on their way to a successful chase of a victory target of 395 in the first Test against Bangladesh in Chattogram six weeks ago.
While the state of the match and the quality of the Sri Lankan bowling suggest a repetition of such a feat will be extremely difficult, the tourists will be wary of the already proven ability of this relatively inexperienced pair.
Of the eight successful run chases in the history of Test cricket higher than the 375 that the West Indies require, two came in the Caribbean.
In 1976, India made 406 to beat the West Indies in Port of Spain while Antigua’s other ground in St John’s was the venue in 2003 for the home side’s remarkable victory chase of 418 — the Test record — to beat Australia.
