Chase: Sri Lanka Test series win ‘stepping stone’ to greater things

ST JOHN’S, Antigua:

West Indies Test captain Roston Chase strongly believes that his side’s recent Test series win against Sri Lanka is a “stepping stone” to greater things for the regional team.

The home side defeated Sri Lanka 1-0 in their two-match Test series following the drawn second Test at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, which concluded on Tuesday.

Trying to force an unlikely victory to level the series, Sri Lanka batted aggressively to score 251 for nine in 49 overs in their second innings, before declaring their innings belatedly just after lunch.

Set a target of 302 for victory in 60 overs, West Indies openers John Campbell and Brandon King never showed any interest in taking on the challenge, with both batters scoring unbeaten half centuries (51 apiece), before both captains agreed to a draw with the home side 109 without loss after 40 overs.

The Windies had won the first Test by an inning and 217 runs.

It was the Windies’ first Test series win since defeating Zimbabwe 1-0 in February of 2023, and their first Test series win over Sri Lanka in 23 years.

FIRST TASTE

It was also Chase’s first taste of victory in four Test series since being appointed Test captain last May.

Speaking in a post-match press conference, Chase said the result would give the Windies much-needed confidence ahead of their upcoming two-match Test series against Pakistan later this month.

“I think this is a stepping stone for us going forward. We sat down and we planned for this Test Championship and we said last year was going to be tough and it was tough. But we said that this year the series we have at home we’d be looking to dominate and win, so I just want the guys to continue from this and let this be a stepping stone and not just leave it there and think ‘We won one series so that’s enough’.

“I think we need to have that consistency. Winning games consistently, that will be good for us in terms of growth and going forward as a cricket nation,” Chase said.

“I’m very elated, especially against a team like Sri Lanka that we’ve struggled to beat even at home and especially when we go away to them it’s very difficult to beat them, so to beat them in a dominating kind of way is very pleasing because we haven’t won against them in 23 years.

“It feels great especially after the year we had last year, to come and start the year with this series victory feels great,” he added.

BATTING

Speaking on his team’s showing against Sri Lanka, Chase said he was especially pleased with the batting performance.

He said while it was the bowling that usually propped up the team, he was glad to see the batters lead from the front this time around.

“The batting is something that we put a lot of emphasis on because it was mostly the bowling that was standing up for us in the majority of the games, so it was something that I really put forward to the guys that we need to be able to give the bowlers something to work with and they raised their hands tremendously in this series.

“They had four hundreds – I mean we’ve been scoring hundreds in the past games – but I mean these were big hundreds and we turned them into big totals as well; not just one guy getting a hundred and we probably just getting over 250. For two guys to get hundreds in two innings, that says a lot,” Chase said.

SCORES:

SRI LANKA: 549-9 dec’d in 139.3 overs (Lahiru Udara 188, Sonal Dinusha 92, Kamindu Mendis 84, Kusal Mendis 69, Dhananjaya de Silva 33, Prabath Jayasuriya 17 not out, Milan Rathnayake 15, Isitha Wijesundara 14; Shamar Joseph 2-98, Jayden Seales 2-98); & 251-9 decl’d in 49 overs (Dinesh Chandimal 71, Kamindu Mendis 44, Dhananjaya de Silva 34, Sonal Dinusha 28, Nishan Fernando 20, Milan Rathnayake 20 not out, Isitha Wijesundara 10; Alzarri Joseph 2-44).

WEST INDIES: 499 in 165.5 overs (Justin Greaves 180, Shai Hope 112, John Campbell 72, Kavem Hodge 31, Roston Chase 23, Brandon King 17, Alzarri Joseph 13; Asitha Fernando 5-130, Prabath Jayasuriya 3-131); & 109-0 in 40 overs (John Campbell 51 not out, Brandon King 51 not out).

– CMC