Only 18 overs in tour match

KINGSTOWN: Heavy showers forced Sri Lanka and the West Indies President’s XI cricket teams to abandon yesterday’s first day of play with just 18 of the mandatory 90 overs bowled in the three-day tour match in St. Vincent. St. Vincent umpires Golan Greaves and Garry White called a washout after the ran began five minutes before the end of lunch. Early morning showers had also delayed the morning session by  half an hour. Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat. By lunch, the visitors had 46 for one, with Marvan Attapatu on 16 and Kumar Sangakkara on 26. The lone wicket to fall was that of experienced opener Sanath Jayasuriya, who was run out in the day’s fifth over with the total on seven. Jayasuriya went after failing to beat a throw from Dave Bernard Jr. to Darren Powell at the bowler’s end. Powell turned the ball onto the stump, with the batsman attempting a second run to a vacant mid-on by his opening partner, Attapatu.

Attapatu and Sangakkara then raised the score to 39 for the second wicket on a slow pitch and rain-soaked outfield. Left-handed Sangakkara struck four fours in his 32-ball stay in the middle, while Attapatu took 66 balls in 95 minutes at the crease. The first boundary of the innings came in the 10th over when Sangakkara pulled Bernard to the midwicket fence to push the total to 22. He followed with three more boundaries, displaying clinical precision in dispatching the bad balls. West Indies fastbowlers Darren Powell, Tino Best and Jerome Taylor, along with seamer Bernard and wrist-spinner Dave Mohammed, attacked with bowling that was steady but not enough to trouble Sri Lanka. Rains were expected last night and today, threatening the second day of play in the tour match. Next, Sri Lanka play two Tests against the West Indies, the first on June 20-24 in St. Lucia and the second on June 27-July 1 in Jamaica.