June 29, 2003	Sunday	Rabi-us-Sani 28,1424

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KINGSTON (Jamaica), June 28: Young paceman Fidel Edwards took five wickets on his debut as the West Indies dismissed Sri Lanka for just 208 on the opening day of the second Test on Friday.

At the close of play, the West Indies had put on four without loss after two overs.

Edwards made the crucial breakthrough of the innings after tea by angling the ball into Kumar Sangakkara’s pads for lbw to end a gritty top-scoring innings of 75 and a partnership of 52 put on with Chaminda Vaas.

With the main plank of resistance removed, the Sri Lankan tail quickly succumbed to the 21-year-old Barbadian’s swing and pace.

Plucked from relative obscurity, and with just one first class game under his belt, Edwards rewarded the selectors’ with an audacious performance and finished with figures of five for 36 off 15 overs.

“I really enjoyed myself out there. This really is a dream come true,” Edwards said after he became the eighth West Indies bowler to take five wickets in his first Test.

The debutant had started his five-wicket haul with the last ball of the morning session, removing Mahela Jayawardene for 10 via Chris Gayle’s sharp diving slip catch, to leave the tourists on 77-3.

Sangakkara battled grimly to consolidate the Sri Lankan innings during the middle and last sessions as the runs dried up and wickets fell steadily.

His stubborn seventh-wicket partnership with Vaas moved the tourists’ towards a competitive total, but Edwards’s late salvo wrapped up the Sri Lankan innings in 85.4 overs.

With a round-arm sling action reminiscent of Australia’s Jeff Thomson in his prime, Edwards gave Thilan Thusara Mirando (11) no time to settle after removing Sangakkara, getting him to edge a catch to Brian Lara at slip.

Lifted by his success, Edwards came back two overs later to dismiss Sri Lanka’s last two batsmen for no runs.

He clean-bowled Muttiah Muralitharan with a blistering delivery then, two balls later, forced an edge off Prabath Nissanka to finish the tourist’s innings.

“I am sure he (Edwards) knows this is the start of something big, but that he now has to work hard to maintain his strength and his fitness,” West Indies skipper Brian Lara said.

Edwards backed up the earlier efforts of fellow fast bowlers Vasbert Drakes and Corey Collymore, who dismissed Sri Lanka openers Marvan Atapattu (15) and Sanath Jayasuriya (26) after the touring side had been put in to bat.

The left-handed Jayasuriya had begun aggressively, hitting four boundaries in two overs off Jerome Taylor, but then edged Collymore down the leg side for wicket-keeper Ridley Jacobs to catch.

Drakes then repeated the feat with Atapattu as Sri Lanka slipped to 48 for two in the 17th over.

Collymore also dismissed Kumar Dharmasena (6), while spinner Omari Banks collected the wickets of Hashan Tillekeratne (13) and Romesh Kaluwitharana (10) as the Sri Lankan middle order showed its soft underbelly.