Holder ready to lead Windies in Sri Lanka

This was also the batsman’s third half-century in Galle. Among the batsmen, Kraigg Brathwaite has been in reasonable form in domestic cricket and is likely to be partnered at the top by Rajendra Chandrika, who opened with him in the tour game.

Dimuth Karunaratne batted in a steady manner to help Sri Lanka forward.

Kaushal Silva (17) edged to wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin to depart after adding 56 runs for the opening stand. I think it’s important for us to get into this Sri Lanka team as early as possible. Mathews is the fulcrum of Sri Lanka’s batting, and captaincy has done wonders for his batsmanship: Mathews the captain averages 68.80 as against his overall career average of 52.06, which isn’t bad either.

Rain is expected on all five days of this Test match.

Sri Lanka, who misplaced their final two check collection at house against Pakistan and India, handed a debut to all-rounder Milinda Siriwardana. In fact, there was a few overnight rain in Galle, but the good news is that the sun is out for now.

West Indies bowling consultant Sir Curtly Ambrose is optimistic about his team’s chances in the two-Test series against Sri Lanka, with the first Test set to bowl off early tomorrow morning (T&T time) at Galle, and noted that early wickets will be key for the touring side. West Indies, without Chris Gayle and the experienced Shivnarine Chanderpaul, faced further turmoil when coach Phil Simmons was stood down for the tour for speaking out against his board’s selection policies.

Meanwhile, a Sri Lanka side recently shorn of two iconic batsmen – Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara – will be led by Jerome Jayaratne in the wake of Marvan Atapattu’s resignation. A team in transition, they will look for a boost as they rebuild. The West Indians lost to South Africa and Australia, while the home series against England was drawn 1-1.

The West Indies are yet to win a Test in Sri Lanka.

However, Holder is confident that they have prepared well and their aims are fixed on winning the series in Sri Lanka.