West Indies chase a clean sweep as Sri Lanka fight to save the series at North Sound
West Indies host Sri Lanka in the second and final Test on Friday, one win from a clean sweep after demolishing the tourists by an innings inside four days in the opener.
Jul 2, 2026
West Indies and Sri Lanka go again at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound on Friday, and only one of them will walk in with a spring in their step. The hosts lead this two-match series 1-0 after an opening Test that was less a contest than a demolition, and they now have a clean sweep in their sights. Sri Lanka have the more urgent job: respond, or leave the Caribbean having been beaten out of sight.
The first Test set a brutal benchmark. West Indies piled up 626 for 9 declared, built around Amir Jangoo’s 233, and then bowled Sri Lanka out twice, for 308 and a feeble 101, to win by an innings and 217 runs inside four days. Jangoo’s double-century came alongside a 401-run stand with captain Roston Chase that is now the highest sixth-wicket partnership in Test history, past the 399 Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes put on for England. Kemar Roach picked up a four-for and reached 300 Test wickets along the way. For a West Indies side that has had little to celebrate in this World Test Championship cycle, it was a first win under Chase and a reminder of what the group can do on a good day.
Sri Lanka’s batting has to stand up first
Everything for the tourists starts with the top order, because it fell apart last week. Being dismissed for 308 and 101 in the same match is not a bowling problem, it is a batting one, and Sri Lanka cannot ask their attack to defend targets that never get set. They have the bowlers to make life awkward, with Prabath Jayasuriya the man most likely to drag them back into the contest. What they do not have is any margin left. Lose the toss, lose an early cluster of wickets, and this series is gone the same way as the first Test.
West Indies scent a rare clean sweep
For the hosts, the motivation is simple. A 2-0 result would be their most convincing home series in a while and a badly needed lift up a WTC table that has not been kind to them. The batting has a settled look with Jangoo and Chase in form, Shai Hope adding experience in the middle, and the pace of Alzarri Joseph, Shamar Joseph and Roach backed by Jomel Warrican’s spin. On this evidence they should start as clear favourites, though a four-day thrashing can breed the kind of complacency that flat second Tests are made of.
What to know before play
This is the second and final Test of the tour, so Sri Lanka cannot win the series now, only save it. The best they can manage is a 1-1 draw, and even that would count as a real recovery after the way the first match went. Play begins at 10am local time, which is 7:30pm IST, and runs through to July 7. West Indies want the job finished. Sri Lanka have four days to prove the opening Test was a bad week rather than the shape of things to come.