Close Sri Lanka 128 for 1 (Atapattu 58*, Jayasuriya 55) and 288 lead West Indies 191 (Lara 75, Vaas 4-57, Muralitharan 4-55) by 228 runs
Scorecard

After three frustrating, rain-affected days it looked like there might be a chance of a result in this match when Chaminda Vaas blew away the West Indian tail on the fourth day at Kandy. But Sri Lanka settled for caution in their second innings, cruising to 128 for 1 from 47 overs at the close. With a lead of 228, they are unlikely to be in a position to declare much before lunch on the final day. Even West Indies - in their current state of mind - should be able to get a draw from here.

They certainly seemed content to bottle things up. Carl Hooper brought himself on and got through 13 overs for only 17 runs, and only legspinner Dinanath Ramnarine took any sort of punishment. Sanath Jayasuriya eventually scooped Ramnarine to Chris Gayle at extra cover when he had made 55 (89 for 1), but Marvan Atapattu continued to grind on. His 58 not out came off 135 balls, with every forward defensive reducing Sri Lanka's victory chances.

Sri Lanka are 1-0 up in the series and don't need to force the issue, but in the current climate of helter-skelter Test cricket and with West Indies there for the taking, their reticence was a little odd.

Sri Lanka took a first-innings lead of 97 when Vaas (4 for 57) and Muttiah Muralitharan (4 for 55) polished West Indies off for 191 shortly before tea. Six batsmen failed to score with only Brian Lara, who hit eight fours and two sixes in his 75, and Gayle (44) offering much resistance.

West Indies resumed on 39 for 1 but they lost Ramnaresh Sarwan for 17 in Muralitharan's second over, bowled through the gate as he shaped to work the ball to leg (51 for 2). Gayle went five overs later, castled by an inswinger from Nuwan Zoysa (72 for 3), but Lara and Carl Hooper took control for a time with the highest partnership of the innings, 54 in 18 overs, before Murali got to work again.

He trapped Hooper lbw for 23 (126 for 4) and then Marlon Samuels, who has laboured increasingly since his impressive debut in Australia in 2000-01, edged a straight one to Kumar Sangakkara before he had scored (126 for 5).

Lara struggled against Muralitharan but got stuck into left-arm spinner Niroshan Bandaratilleke, smacking him for two straight sixes. He found good support from Ridley Jacobs, who lashed a quickfire 24, and West Indies were in decent shape when acting captain Atapattu turned to Vaas, who started to wreak all sorts of havoc with the old ball.

He bowled Jacobs via the inside edge (167 for 6) and then picked up Mervyn Dillon and Dinanath Ramnarine with consecutive deliveries, both for nought (173 for 8). Pedro Collins survived the hat-trick ball but was soon on his way for the fifth duck of the innings.

"After lunch, I really bowled well," Vaas said. "I didn't try to do much but bowled a line and length and got wickets. It took me a year to learn how to bowl reverse swing.

"I have asked Wasim Akram and some of the Pakistani bowlers many times (how to reverse swing), but they didn't tell me. But I somehow learnt it and I am quite happy that I got wickets with it today."

After reaching his 34th Test fifty off 102 balls, Lara started to hit out as wickets tumbled at the other end. When he was lbw to Muralitharan, the last five wickets had gone down for 24 in 9.2 overs and Sri Lanka had a sniff of an unlikely victory. Atapattu had other ideas.

Teams Sri Lanka 1 Sanath Jayasuriya (capt), 2 Marvan Atapattu, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Russel Arnold, 6 Hashan Tillekeratne, 7 Thilan Samaraweera, 8 Chaminda Vaas, 9 Nuwan Zoysa, 10 Niroshan Bandaratillake, 11 Muttiah Muralitharan.

West Indies 1 Daren Ganga, 2 Chris Gayle, 3 Ramnaresh Sarwan, 4 Brian Lara, 5 Carl Hooper (capt), 6 Marlon Samuels, 7 Ridley Jacobs (wk), 8 Mervyn Dillon, 9 Colin Stuart, 10 Dinanath Ramnarine, 11 Pedro Collins.

Rob Smyth is on the staff at Wisden.com.

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd