West Indies score 318/4, trail by 231 runs:Hope-Greaves record 174-run partnership on Day 3; 31 runs behind to avoid follow-on

By the end of the third day in the ongoing Test match between Sri Lanka and West Indies, the host nation made a strong comeback. Shai Hope and Justin Greaves added an unbeaten 174 runs for the fifth wicket, bringing the team out of trouble. Windies are 231 runs behind Sri Lanka in the first innings and need just 31 more runs to avoid the follow-on. At stumps on the third day, Shai Hope is unbeaten on 86 runs off 173 balls and Justin Greaves is unbeaten on 85 runs off 162 balls. A century partnership has been formed between the two. Sri Lanka had declared their first innings at a score of 549/9. Match turned around after Campbell’s early morning wicket Playing on from 58 runs for one wicket, Sri Lanka had scored 138 runs for the loss of 2 wickets by lunch. At the start of the day, John Campbell and Kavem Hodge added 89 runs in 234 balls. Before lunch, Asitha Fernando dismissed Campbell, giving Sri Lanka a breakthrough. After lunch, Jayasuriya created pressure by taking two wickets, but the partnership between Hope and Greaves dashed Sri Lanka’s hopes of a comeback. Hope-Greaves took charge after WI lost 4 wickets for 141 runs After lunch, Prabhat Jayasuriya dismissed Aamir Jangoo and Kavem Hodge, reducing West Indies’ score to 141/4. Aamir Jangoo scored 9 and Kavem Hodge scored 31 runs. Subsequently, Hope and Greaves batted without taking risks and added an unbroken 174 runs by the end of the day. At stumps, Hope was unbeaten on 86 and Greaves on 85 runs. Slow batting rendered Sri Lanka ineffective
Both baters, batting with patience, forced Sri Lankan bowlers to bowl long spells. Due to the pitch not offering much help, the Sri Lankan bowlers could not break this partnership. On the third day, this was the first session of West Indies’ innings in which Sri Lanka did not get a single wicket. Sri Lanka declared at 549/9 on Day 2 Earlier on Day 2, Sri Lanka made a strong start against West Indies in the second Test. The team declared their first innings at 549/9 in Antigua. In response, West Indies scored 58 runs for one wicket until the end of play on the second day. The team is currently 491 runs behind Sri Lanka. Openers John Campbell (31 runs) and Kavem Hodge (6 runs) returned unbeaten. Sri Lanka started playing from 338/5. The team did not lose any wicket in the first session of the day. They had crossed the 500-run mark by tea-break. They declared the innings in the third session after Kusal Mendis and Sonal Dinusha’s half centuries.