The 1st Test match of the West Indies vs Sri Lanka 2021 series was played at Sir Vivian at Richards Stadium, North Sound, Antigua on 21 March - 25 March 2021. West Indies came out with his new Test captain, Kraigg Brathwaite, after winning the three matches ODI series by 3-0. West Indies included five main bowlers with four pacers. The West Indies captain won the toss and invited the opposition to bat first. Pathum Nissanka made his Test Debut for Sri Lanka. Dimuth Karunaratne and Lahiru Thirimanne were sent to the crease and Kemar Roach got the new ball in hand to open the attack.
Sri Lankan first inning did not start well and lost the first wicket of Dimuth Karunaratne at 17 runs only. West Indies bowlers were amazing from the start and dominated the Sri Lankan top and middle-order batsmen. Except for Lahiru Thirimanne, no batsmen from the Sri Lanka side could stay longer on the crease and the whole Sri Lanka squad was bowled out at the low total of 169 runs only in only 69.4 overs. West Indies bowled really well especially Jason Holder who took the 5 important wickets of Sri Lanka. Lahiru Thirimanne made some effort to handle the situation but could not get enough support from the other batsmen and he was also clean bowled by Jason Holder for 70 runs in 63.6 overs. Kemar Roach also performed well with the ball and took 3 wickets.
The first inning of West Indies started with the opening pair Kraigg Brathwaite and John Campbell and Suranga Lakmal got the new ball to deliver the first over. West Indies lost the first wicket of Kraigg Brathwaite at 13 runs then Nkrumah Bonner came out to the middle to join John Campbell and tried to cover up the damage. Sri Lanka did not allow them to stay longer on the crease and wickets started falling at regular intervals. John Campbell, Kyle Mayers, Joshua Da Silva, and Rahkeem Cornwall tried well to handle the situation and scored 42, 45, 46, and 61 runs. For Sri Lanka, Suranga Lakmal was superb with the ball and took 5 wickets of West Indies. The West Indies team was bowled out at 271 runs and got the lead of 102 runs.
In the second inning of Sri Lanka, Lahiru Thirimanne and Oshada Fernando performed well for the 2nd wicket and built up a crucial partnership of 162 runs after losing Dimuth Karunaratne very early. Afterward, Oshada Fernando was dismissed for 91 runs by Kyle Mayers in 56.1 overs, he missed his century from 9 runs only. Sri Lanka batsmen looked much better in the second inning and had put a big total of 476 runs on the scoreboard. Lahiru Thirimanne struck 76 runs, Oshada Fernando’s 91 runs, Dhananjaya de Silva completed his fifty, Pathum Nissanka who was playing his first test match added a century and 96 runs from Niroshan Dickwella, helped Sri Lanka to add a big total. Kemar Roach and Rahkeem Cornwall got 3 wickets each for their team. West Indies got the target of 375 runs to win the 1st test match between WI and SL 2021 series.
In the second inning of West Indies, Kraigg Brathwaite and John Campbell were on the crease to chase the target and Suranga Lakmal got the new ball in hand. West Indies did not get a good start and lost John Campbell at 12 runs only. After the dismissal, Nkrumah Bonner came out to the middle to join Kraigg Brathwaite and played an awesome inning of unbeaten 113 runs. He completed his first Test match century from 243 balls. Kyle Mayers at the number 4 position also played well and struck 52 runs. Sri Lanka bowlers made efforts to bowl out West Indies but could not get success and the 1st test match was ended with no result.
The 1st test match of the WI vs SL series 2021 was drawn and Nkrumah Bonner was named Man of the Match.