West Indies untroubled in rain-curtailed morning session

Persistent rain limited play to just 43 minutes on the second morning of the first cricket Test between the West Indies and Sri Lanka in Trinidad here today.

In the playing time available at the Queen's Park Oval, West Indies advanced their first innings score by 22 runs without losing a wicket. They were 268 for six when showers drove the players off the field and forced an early lunch interval.

Shane Dowrich is on 57 with Devendra Bishoo on seven.

Rain had already delayed the start of play by 50 minutes and with more inclement weather forecast, further interruptions are a distinct possibility.

With the second new ball in hand, Sri Lanka's senior seamer Suranga Lakmal and young fast-medium bowler Lahiru Gamage sought a much-needed breakthrough. However, Dowrich and Bishoo negotiated the brief period without too much difficulty in extending their seventh-wicket partnership to 31.

After closing day one in watchful mode after captain Jason Holder was dismissed to end a 90-run fifth-wicket partnership, wicketkeeper Dowrich rapidly completed the sixth half-century of his 19-match Test career. A boundary over square-leg off Lakmal in the day's first over took him to the landmark.

Bishoo, who had negotiated 32 scoreless deliveries the day before, got off the mark from the first ball he faced on the second morning off Gamage.