West Indies 318 for 4 (Greaves 131*, Chase 8*, Jayasuriya 2-99) trail Sri Lanka 549 for 9 dec by 143 runs

Roston Chase had joined Greaves in the middle at the break, as West Indies headed to the break definitely the happier of the two sides.

The marathon Hope-Greaves stand was ended at 242 off 459 deliveries, after it significantly reduced Sri Lankan hopes of a win. The wicket came about more by accident than anything else, as Hope sort to pad away and innocuous leg-stump line delivery from Sonal Dinusha. But as the ball passed and went through to the keeper, Kusal Mendis, Hope had reflexively dragged his back foot out of the crease. And just as that happened, the ball had bounced off Kusal gloves and rolled back on the stumps.

It brought to an end a resolute and risk-free 112 off 243, though Sri Lanka will be kicking themselves for not having nixed his innings sooner. Off just the second delivery of the morning, with Hope yet to add to his overnight score of 86, Milan Rathnayake had Hope tickling one down leg through to Kusal.

The appeal was loud from both keeper and bowler, but Umpire Paul Reiffel was unconvinced as was skipper Dhananjaya de Silva – perhaps overly cautious having burned through two of their three reviews the previous day.

It was a let-off for Hope and West Indies, one that prevented Sri Lanka from getting the early breakthrough they so desperately needed as they searched for a series-levelling victory.

From that point on, until Hope’s unusual dismissal, it was essentially the Hope and Greaves show, with both batters taking on whatever the Sri Lankans threw at them with consummate ease. The only areas of concern were some increasingly frequent deliveries keeping low off a length, but it wasn’t persistent enough to cause any undue concern – at least not at this juncture.

The pair moved along in lockstep, like they had done for most of the previous day. With the West Indies unbothered about the scoring rate, the pair were more than content batting time and playing each ball on merit. There were just five boundaries in the session, three coming off the bat of Greaves – who showcased his serious batting chops with pair of textbook drives and a whip through midwicket.

Their centuries too came around four overs apart, with Hope the first to get there off 199 deliveries, and shortly after Greaves reached his off 201 balls. They were significant milestones as well, with this Hope’s fifth Test century but the first in the Caribbean, meanwhile for Greaves it was his second ton at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium and third overall in Tests. It also showcased his growing ability to convert his starts, with his Test centuries now outnumbering his Test fifties three to one.