Twitter Reactions: Rahkeem Cornwall, Jason Holder frustate Sri Lanka on rain-affected Day 3 of 1st Test

Some quality Test cricket was on display on Day 3 of the ongoing 1st Test match between West Indies and Sri Lanka at the Galle International Stadium. The visitors were 113/6 at the start of the day’s play, trailing 273 runs behind Sri Lanka’s first innings total of 386 runs. While the Lankan Lions were expected to clean up the tail soon, the Caribbean team made a remarkable comeback.

The likes of Kyle Mayers, Jason Holder, and Rahkeem Cornwall played substantial knocks to keep their side in the hunt. While the Sri Lankan spinners looked effective on Day 3 as well, they couldn’t create that sort of impact which they managed to do in the preceding day. Meanwhile, the play was called off early due to persistent rain at the stadium. At stumps, West Indies were 224/9, trailing 162 runs behind Sri Lanka’s first-innings score.

Rahkeem Cornwall, Jason Holder showcased great resistance

Speaking of the proceedings of the day, Kyle Mayers and Jason Holder carried on from where they left off the previous day. The duo showed great resistance and added 63 crucial runs for the seventh wickets before Mayers fell prey to Dhananjaya de Silva.  Holder’s stay also came to an end soon as he was dismissed for 26.

While the Caribbean side looked all set to get bundled out under 200, wicketkeeper-batter Joshua Da Silva (wk) found a substantial partner in Rahkeem Cornwall. The duo continued to fight and took their side past 200. The latter was aggressive in particular as he played some delightful shots all over the park.

However, he also got dismissed for 39 at the fag end of the day’s play. Although West Indies are still 162 runs behind Sri Lanka’s score, they would be pretty pleased with the current situation as their defeat seemed inevitable at the start of day’s play. De Silva now have to join forces with Shannon Gabriel to minimize the margin of Sri Lanka’s lead.

With two days play left in the game, the Kraigg Brathwaite-led side must be pretty hopeful of managing a draw. On the other hand, Sri Lanka needs to take the remaining wicket soon before adding a substantial score to their lead in order to present a mammoth target in front of the visitors.

Meanwhile, let’s look at how Twitterati reacted to the proceedings of Day 3:

Stumps Day 3
1sT_TesT_MaTcH
SL_vs_WI
Day_3
SL_386
WI_224/9
OvEr_80.
J Da Silva 11*
R Cornwall 39 OuT ct R Mendis b Lakmal.
K Brathwaite 41#SLvWI

— Cricket Lover (@Iam_AtifShahzad) November 23, 2021

Rain reigns supreme in Galle ⛈️

Play is called off early. #WTC23 | #SLvWI | https://t.co/k4DuUTOtrA pic.twitter.com/XVUd2fV558

— ICC Media (@ICCMedia) November 23, 2021

Cornwall – Josua D Silva & 🌧️ Frustate #SriLanka Throughout The Day which force stumps early at Day 3 🌧️

WI 224/9 ( 1st Inning )
SL 386/10 ( 1st Inning )

West Indies Trail By 162 Runs..#SLvWI @OfficialSLC @windiescricket

— Daily Cricket (@dailycricketDC) November 23, 2021

Day 3 called off due to rain. Next two days will be crucial for SL. Pitch won't deteriorate much and rain will fall. Many obstacles in front for a SL win. #SLvWI

— The Lucky One (@lakshithadasan3) November 23, 2021

Match called off for the day. Play on Day 4 & 5 will begin at 9.45, weather permitting #SLvWI

— Estelle Vasudevan (@Estelle_Vasude1) November 23, 2021

#SLvWI Day 3 has been called off due to persistent rain. West Indies trail by 162 runs with one wicket left in the first innings.

— CricTracker (@Cricketracker) November 23, 2021

Rahkeem Cornwall and Jason Holder runs 🥰

— Will (@mynameswilll) November 23, 2021

The rain and 2 excellent partnership's of holder – Mayer
Cornwall – Joshua has bought SL to a situation where they have to bat quick runs and give enough time if they need to win this

Doesn't mean windies are sneaking through though. #SLvWI

— Mask up, Stay home & safe, Get Vaccinated (@Kaushik1695S) November 23, 2021

It is a turner (neither side bothered with more than two regular pacers) but clearly not a dreadful surface. SL managed 386, WI are 224-9, having been 113-6 overnight. Mayers scored 45, Holder and Cornwall 39 each and da Silva has batted 70 balls for 11*.

— Thomas Sutcliffe (@aspitweets) November 23, 2021

#cricket #testcricket #SLvWI a better day for WI – runs for Mayers, Holder and Cornwall, while Joshua da Silva has batted a long time for 11*. They have moved on to 224-9, still 162 adrift, but being forced to follow on looked more likely than not at the end of yesterday…

— Thomas Sutcliffe (@aspitweets) November 23, 2021

Highest Test scores by West Indies tail-enders (8-11 positions) in Sri Lanka :-
39 – Rahkeem Cornwall at Galle, today
36 – Jason Holder at Galle, today
32 – Omari Banks at Colombo, 2005

Both the top 2 knocks have come today.#SLvWI

— Rhitankar Bandyopadhyay (@rhitankar8616) November 23, 2021

Plenty of WI positives to take from that first session.

The SL bowlers haven’t been bad by any means but first Holder and Mayers were positive in their intent and looked to score and now Cornwall and Da Silva have looked to apply the same formula and it has worked.#SLvWI

— Nikhil Uttamchandani (@NikUttam) November 23, 2021

Difficult – asset holder might be out of internet signal, hence not sending (happened to me when traveling in Cornwall)

Honestly – cnftio is starting to be behind, by a lot. Stale is a pioneer, no doubt, but it doesn't necesarily mean his marketplace will be in lead forever..?

— premeq (@premeq_cz) November 22, 2021

Haha..but to think WI still have Myers, Holder, Da Silva and Cornwall is a *potentially* very long lineup!!

— Sumit Dahal (@Into_Void) November 22, 2021