West Indies vs Sri Lanka 2021, 1st Test: Day 4 - Sri Lanka Set 375 Runs Target For West Indies, Hosts End The Day On 34/1

Sri Lankan batsmen Pathum Nissanka and Niroshan Dickwella set up a strong big partnership for the sixth wicket that helped the visitors to set up the 350+ fourth innings target for the hosts West Indies.

Starting the day on their overnight score of 255/4, Sri Lanka finished their second innings on 476 runs as they set up the fourth innings target for the hosts for 375 runs. West Indies finished the fourth day on 34/1 as they still need 341 runs to win the Test match.

West Indies vs Sri Lanka 2021, 1st Test: Day 4 – Debutant Pathum Nissanka scored a century and Niroshan Dickwella just missed his first Test century

Dhananjaya de Silva completed his fifty with a four on the third ball of the day but Alzarri Joseph bowled him on the fifth ball of the day. But then Test debutant Pathum Nissanka and wicket-keeper batsman Niroshan Dickwella put a crucial partnership that ran till the early third session of the day.

Before the lunch break, Nissanka completed his half-century in 126 balls. Just before the lunch break, Nissanka-Dickwella completed 100 runs partnership for the sixth wicket. In the second session of the day, that partnership added 76 more runs, where Nissanka just completed his century in 240 balls and became the fourth Sri Lankan to score a century on Test debut (Brendon Kuruppu 201* in 1987, Romesh Kaluwitharana 132* in 1992 and Thilan Samaraweera 103* in 2001).

Also, Dickwella completed his fifty in 103 balls during that second session of the day.

In the second over of the third session, Rahkeem Cornwall finally brought the breakthrough for the West Indies team when the off-spinner dismissed centurion Pathum Nissanka for 103 runs off 252 balls (6 fours). Before that wicket, Nissanka and Dickwella had the 179 runs partnership for the sixth wicket as Sri Lanka crossed their lead over 300 runs.

Dickwella remained unlucky by missing his first Test century once again as this time he was bowled for 96 runs as Kemar Roach took that wicket. Before Dickwella’s wicket, Sri Lanka were batting on 460/6, but after his wicket, the visitors added 16 more runs prior to losing their all wickets.

Kemar Roach (3/74) and Rahkeem Cornwall (3/137) both got three wickets each in that innings. Also, Alzarri Joseph (1/83) picked up one wicket while Kyle Mayers (2/24) took two wickets.

Chasing down the 375 runs target, West Indies scored 34/1 in the first 20 overs. Vishwa Fernando dismissed the opener John Campbell for 11 runs. At the stumps of the day, the opener Kraigg Brathwaite remained not out on 8 runs while the no.3 batsman Nkrumah Bonner scored 15 not out.

Brief Scores: Sri Lanka – 169 (Lahiru Thirimanne 70, Niroshan Dickwella 32; Jason Holder 5/27) & 476 (Pathum Nissanka 103, Niroshan Dickwella 96; Kemar Roach 3/74)

West Indies – 271 (Rahkeem Cornwall 61, Joshua Da Silva 46; Suranga Lakmal 5/47) & 34/1 (Nkrumah Bonner 15*, John Campbell 11; Vishwa Fernando 1/21)