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by Sa'adi Thawfeeq reporting from Kandy

KANDY, Friday - The second cricket Test between Sri Lanka and West Indies looked headed for a draw after rain interrupted play for the third successive day at the Asgiriya International Stadium here today.

When play was abandoned for the day at 4.25 p.m. under heavy overcast skies, West Indies had made 39 for one wicket replying to Sri Lanka's 288.

Already five sessions of play have been lost and a sixth had 47 minutes knocked off it due to bad weather.

Play did not begin till 2 p.m. today and the action was only brief for a mere 73 minutes before the dark clouds began closing in on again and ruling out play for the rest of the day. Two days remain in the Test. Sri Lanka struck an early blow when left-armer Nuwan Zoysa took a wicket with his first ball on his return to Test cricket after eight months.

Zoysa forced Darren Ganga to edge a simple catch to Mahela Jayawardene at third slip before he had scored and West Indies lost their first wicket at eight.

Zoysa played his last Test at this venue against England in March of this year before a fractured ankle put him out of action. Hard hitting left-hander Chris Gayle crashed four fours as he raced to 25 off 32 balls and Ramnaresh Sarwan made 12 as West Indies reached 39 for one before rain forced the players to the pavilion 17 minutes to the tea break.

West Indies pace bowlers cleaned up the Sri Lankan first innings capturing the last two wickets for 15 runs after play resumed in the third afternoon.

Sri Lanka starting at 273 for eight wickets, were dismissed for 288, the last two wickets falling for 16 runs.

Zoysa took eight runs off the first over bowled by Pedro Collins, but was bowled off the next for 23, ending a 32-run ninth wicket stand with Niroshan Bandaratillake.

Meryvn Dillon finished the innings off in the fourth over of the day when he had Muttiah Muralitharan caught by Colin Stuart at mid-off for four, leaving Bandaratillake unbeaten on 12.

Collins ended with figures of four for 78 with Dillon and Dinanath Ramnarine taking three apiece.

SRI LANKA - 1ST INNINGS (overnight 273-8)

M. Atapattu lbw b Dillon 0 S. Jayasuriya c Gayle b Collins 16 K. Sangakkara b Ramnarine 15 M. Jayawardene c and b Ramnarine 88 R. Arnold b Ramnarine 4 H. Tillakaratne b Collins 87 T. Samaraweera c Jacobs b Dillon 29 C. Vaas c Hooper b Collins 0 N. Bandaratillake not out 12 N. Zoysa b Collins 23 M. Muralitharan c Stuart b Dillon 4 EXTRAS (lb-6, nb-4) 10 TOTAL (all out, 96.4 overs) 288

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-0, 2-27, 3-49, 4-53, 5-169, 6-249, 7-249, 8-249, 9-281, 10-288.

BOWLING: Dillon 20.4-4-55-3 (1nb), Collins 27-7-78-4 (1nb), Stuart 0.1-0-2-0 (2nb), Gayle 0.3-0-4-0, Hooper 21-6-44-0, Ramnarine 25-6-81-3, Samuels 3-0-18-0.

WEST INDIES - 1ST INNINGS

C. Gayle not out 25 D. Ganga c Jayawardene b Zoysa 0 R. Sarwan not out 12 EXTRAS (nb-2) 2

TOTAL (one wkt at close, 11 overs) 39

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-8.

TO BAT: B. Lara, C. Hooper, M. Samuels, R. Jacobs, M. Dillon, D. Ramnarine, C.

Stuart, P. Collins.

BOWLING: Vaas 6-1-25-0 (2nb), Zoysa 4-1-13-1, Muralitharan 1-0-1-0.

Umpires: John Hampshire (England) and Gamini Silva (Sri Lanka), TV umpire: P.

Manuel (Sri Lanka), Match Referee: Raman Subba Row (England).

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