PROVIDENCE, March 27: Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene paid tribute to his bowlers for dismissing West Indies twice on what was widely acknowledged as a docile Providence Stadium pitch, and handing the visitors their first Test match win in the Caribbean.

The tourists created a bit of history, when they completed a 121-run victory over Chris Gayle’s side in the opening Test on Wednesday.

“We had a challenge when we came and that was to win a Test match in the West Indies and we have achieved that,” Jayawardene told reporters.

“We played hard and a lot of guys contributed. It was an amazing effort from Chaminda Vaas, and our ‘quicks’ took 13 wickets in the Test, so a lot of credit to them. Muttiah Muralitharan bowled his heart out, and overall it was a very good team effort,” he said.Jayawardene felt West Indies played into his side’s hands, when they chose to chase an unlikely 437 to win.

“We wanted them to play a few shots on this pitch because that’s how we could have created opportunities,” he said.

“That’s why we gave them a target they could have achieved, rather than giving them 500 when they would have been in a very defensive frame of mind. We gave them a target thinking this is a target they could chase especially since they have shot-makers.”

Jayawardene indicated when Dwayne Bravo and Ramnaresh Sarwan were at the height of a record second wicket stand of 134, he had some reservations about if his side could complete the job, but they stuck to the task.

“The last hour of the fourth day, their attitude was totally different in the way they approached it, and we knew that we were up against a good challenge,” he said.

“Bravo and Sarwan both batted really well and we had to be very patient with those two guys, make sure that we don’t give them too many easy runs, wait for our opportunity, and once we got the breakthrough, pick up a few more wickets, and put pressure on the other batsmen.

Jayawardene explained that though Gayle had dropped himself down the order, his side always felt they just need to put pressure on the other batsmen and the results would come.

Gayle, meanwhile, was disappointed that his side could not hold on to draw the Test and keep the two-Test series level at 0-0.

“It was tough coming out on the losing side again, but the guys really fought well to try and save the match,” he said.—AFP