Close Sri Lanka (590 for 9 dec and 6 for 0) beat West Indies (448 and 144, Muralitharan 5-44) by 10 wickets
Scorecard

In the end Muttiah Muralitharan was just too much. Faced with the challenge of batting all day on a crumbling pitch to save the game, West Indies were winkled out for 144 midway through the final session, with Murali taking 5 for 44 and extending his match haul to 11 for 170. Phenomena don't come much more phenomenal.

All this after West Indies had begun the day in upbeat mood. Coach Roger Harper had promised a fight and Brian Lara had promised 150. And for a while the overnight pair of Daren Ganga and Ramnaresh Sarwan scrapped hard, taking the score from 9 for 1 to 70 before Ganga swept Niroshan Bandaratilleke to square leg for 33. The floodgates were open.

In the next over, Sarwan was snaffled by Russel Arnold at silly point for 30 to give Murali his first wicket of the day (70 for 3), and when Carl Hooper tamely drove Bandaratilleke to Sanath Jayasuriya at short extra cover for 6, it was 83 for 4.

But Lara was still there. All he needed, it seemed, was someone to stay with him. Marlon Samuels grafted for more then three-quarters of an hour for 2 before Murali hit him on the toe and won a shout for leg-before (93 for 5).

Ridley Jacobs helped Lara add 38 for the sixth wicket – the second-highest stand of the innings – but the game was up when Lara chipped the occasional offspin of Thilan Samaraweera, bowling his first over, to Muralitharan at midwicket for 40 (131 for 6). Oh well, just 110 short, then.

The last four wickets came and went in a hurry. Jacobs was bowled by Murali for a 63-minute 9 (135 for 7); Mervyn Dillon was lbw to Murali for 0 (138 for 7); Dinanath Ramnarine was bowled by Chaminda Vaas for 0 (139 for 9); and Colin Stuart was caught at mid-off by Vaas off the leading edge for 2 as he tried to work Murali on the leg side.

West Indies had lost their last nine wickets for 74 in 43.1 overs, and their last five for 13 in 14.5. Sri Lanka needed just four deliveries to knock off the three runs that brought them their first Test win over West Indies at the fourth attempt.

It was reminiscent of England's defeat at the hands of Murali at The Oval in 1998. On that occasion England began with 445 (West Indies made 448 here); Sri Lanka replied with 591 (590 for 9 here); England then collapsed on the last day to 181 (West Indies 144 here); and Sri Lanka knocked off the 37 they needed without loss (three here). Oh, and Muralitharan took 15 wickets (just 11 this time).

West Indies' only hope is that they can do another England in this series: last winter England suffered a crushing defeat in the first Test at Galle, but then won at Kandy and Colombo, which is where West Indies play the second and third Tests. But Sri Lanka will be doubly wary this time.

Lawrence Booth is assistant editor of Wisden.com.

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