Lawson rocks Sri Lanka

Pace bowler Jermaine Lawson rocked Sri Lanka by taking four wickets to help West Indies to a 58-run first-innings lead on day two of the first Test.

Lawson, 23 and returning to the side after a back injury, bowled with pace and hostility on a generally docile pitch. Sri Lanka were dismissed for 227 in reply to West Indies' 285.

Chaminda Vaas struck back for the hosts with the new ball, however, trapping Xavier Marshall (two) and Runako Morton (0) lbw with late swinging dippers.

Muttiah Muralitharan followed up with the wicket of Sylvester Joseph for two, caught minutes before bad light stopped play, reducing West Indies to a precarious 17 for three in their second innings.

Sri Lanka had grabbed the initiative early in the day, needing just 6.4 overs to take West Indies' last four wickets.

But West Indies, the underdogs before the start after a contracts dispute meant 10 leading players missed the tour, fought back.

Marvan Atapattu (one) chopped a short delivery from Darren Powell on to his leg stump and Sanath Jayasuriya (three) was caught at short leg after edging a Lawson delivery on to his pad.

Powell broke through again in his first seven-over new ball burst when Jayawardene, who stayed 52 minutes at the crease for his three runs, edged a full length ball to slip.

Sangakkara counterattacked at the other end, scoring a brisk 34 from 48 balls with four fours, before off spinner Omari Banks had him caught behind a few minutes before lunch.

AGGRESSIVE CRACK

Tillakaratne Dilshan cracked an aggressive 32 from 31 balls, hitting seven boundaries, adding 44 for the fifth wicket with Thilan Samaraweera (11).

But Banks triggered another collapse when Dilshan prodded a catch to short leg and Samaraweera fell in the next over after top edging a hook off Lawson.

Lawson returned just before tea to dismiss Rangana Herath (24) courtesy of an acrobatic diving catch from 19-year-old wicket-keeper Denesh Ramdin.

Earlier in the day West Indies added only 14 runs to their overnight 271 for six.

Vaas started the collapse by trapping Shivnarine Chanderpaul lbw for 69 with a swinging delivery. Lasith Malinga snapped up Powell and Omari Banks and Vaas polished off the innings by bowling Tino Best.

Scorecard

West Indies 1st innings (Overnight: 271-6)
S. Joseph lbw b Wijekoon 28
X. Marshall lbw b Vaas 10
R. Morton b Muralitharan 43
N. Deonarine c Sangakkara b Malinga 12
S. Chanderpaul lbw b Vaas 69
D. Smith lbw b Malinga 4
D. Ramdin b Wijekoon 56
O. Banks b Malinga 32
D. Powell c Jayawardene b Malinga 3
T. Best b Vaas 4
J. Lawson not out 4

Extras (lb-7 nb-13) 20

Total (all out, 88.4 overs) 285

Fall of wickets: 1-14 2-72 3-95 4-109 5-113 6-192 7-273 8-276 9-28

Bowling: Vaas 16.4 - 4 - 35 - 3, Malinga 14 - 1 - 71 - 4 (nb-8), Wijekoon 10 - 1 - 49 - 2, Muralitharan 29 - 8 - 56 - 1, Herath 14 - 1 - 52 - 0, Jayasuriya 5 - 1 - 15 - 0

Sri Lanka 1st innings
M. Atapattu b D. Powell 1
S. Jayasuriya c D.R. Smith b Lawson 3
K. Sangakkara c Ramdin b Banks 34
M. Jayawardene c Morton b D. Powell 3
T. Samaraweera c&b Lawson 11
T. Dilshan c D.R. Smith b Banks 32
C. Vaas b D.R. Smith 49
G. Wijekoon c Joseph b Best 12
R. Herath c Ramdin b Lawson 24
M. Muralitharan b Lawson 36
L. Malinga not out 5

Extras (lb-6 nb-11) 17

Total (all out, 57.3 overs) 227

Fall of wickets: 1-4 2-7 3-32 4-47 5-91 6-93 7-113 8-149 9-215 10-227

Bowling: D. Powell 13 - 4 - 31 - 2 (nb-2), Lawson 14.3 - 3 - 59 - 4 (nb-1), Best 11 - 1 - 47 - 1 (nb-7), Banks 16 - 3 - 70 - 2 (nb-1), Deonarine 1 - 0 - 9 - 0, D.R. Smith 2 - 0 - 5 - 1

West Indies 2nd innings
S. Joseph c Jayawardene b Muralitharan 2
X. Marshall lbw b Vaas 2
R. Morton lbw b Vaas 0
N. Deonarine not out 5
S. Chanderpaul not out 0

Extras (b-8) 8

Total (for 3 wickets, 10.2 overs) 17

Fall of wickets: 1-3 2-3 3-15

Bowling: Vaas 5 - 1 - 4 - 2, Malinga 3 - 2 - 1 - 0, Muralitharan 2 - 1 - 2 - 1, Jayasuriya 0.2 - 0 - 2 - 0