GROS ISLET, St. Lucia, 22 June 2003 — Fast bowler Corey Collymore grabbed a maiden five-wicket haul to lead a West Indies fightback in the opening Test against Sri Lanka at the Beausejour Stadium here yesterday.
The 25-year-old took 5-62 as Sri Lanka slipped to 309-8 in their first innings at lunch on the second day after resuming at a healthy 250-4. Chaminda Vaas (13) and Muttiah Muralitharan (9) were at the crease.
Collymore did not allow Sri Lanka to strengthen their position with two quick wickets in his incisive opening spell with the second new ball, taken after two overs in the morning.
The fast bowler, who had bagged just one wicket in his only Test in 1999 against Australia, trapped hard-hitting Romesh Kaluwitharana (2) leg-before and had Kaushal Lokuarachchi (15) caught by a diving Brian Lara in the slips.
Lara set a West Indies record of 123 Test catches by a fielder in his 95th match, surpassing Viv Richards’ previous mark of 122.
It was part-time seamer Wavell Hinds who provided a vital breakthrough when he had Sri Lankan opener Marvan Atapattu (118) caught by Lara in his first over of the day.
Atapattu was beaten by a delivery that moved away a bit and edged a drive straight to the West Indies captain.
The Sri Lankan opener had started with a cover-driven four off Collymore, but could add only 10 runs to his overnight score.
Atapattu hit 15 fours in his 11th Test century, the first against the West Indies and the fourth away from home. The big moment for Collymore came when he got rid of Thilan Samaraweera (11) for the fifth victim in an innings in only his second Test.
Samaraweera, who had averaged 83.00 in his previous 10 Tests, added four to his overnight total before being caught by wicketkeeper Ridley Jacobs.
Dippenaar Hundred
Seals South Africa Win
In London, Boeta Dippenaar’s 101 not out off 90 balls guided South Africa to a 153-run win over Sussex under the Hove floodlights on Friday as the tourists continued their preparations for the forthcoming one-day series with England and Zimbabwe.
Dippenaar, called into the South Africa one-day squad in place of the injured Neil McKenzie, struck two sixes and seven fours but was dropped on 12 by Carl Hopkinson at mid-on off the bowling of off-spinner Mark Davis. His innings helped South Africa to 267 for seven from their 50 overs and this proved too much for Sussex, bowled out for 114 with the floodlights barely on.
