Veerasammy Permaul has hailed the partnership with fellow left-arm spinner Jomel Warrican, as key to West Indies’ strong performance on day two of the second Test against Sri Lanka there on Monday.
The 32-year-old snatched career-best figures of 35 – his maiden Test five-wicket haul – while Warrican, 29, finished with four for 50 as West Indies knocked Sri Lanka over for 204 in their first innings at Galle International Stadium.
Sri Lanka had resumed on 113 for one but lost their last nine wickets for 91 runs, opener Pathum Nissanka converting his overnight 61 into a top score of 73 and Angelo Mathews getting 29.
“I think Warri bowled very well at the other end. I think he controlled the batsmen’s scoring rate and that really helped me, him bowling tight at one end and I attacking at the next end and that was a good partnership,” explained Permaul, who played the last of his previous six Tests six years ago.
“I think moving forward it is very important we stay consistent as a bowling unit and be patient and don’t look for wickets and try to create opportunities, rather than go out and try to get a wicket by experimenting.”
Permaul had sent down five overs the previous day for 18 runs, failing to really trouble the Sri Lanka batsmen in the 2-½ hours play possible in the final session due to rain.
Introduced approaching the first hour on Monday, Permaul produced a double strike in his second over by removing Nissanka and Dhananjaya de Silva (2) to make key breakthroughs for the touring side.
“First of all, I tried to adjust to the conditions, see what pace is good for the wicket and I think I adjusted and controlled and tried to spin the ball as much as possible, and that really brought me success,” he said.
“At the end of the day, if we had known from morning that we would bowl out Sri Lanka for [204] and we would’ve been 69 for one, we would take that any time.”
Despite his absence from the West Indies Test side, Permaul remained prolific at first class level for Guyana, keeping his name in the selectors’ minds.
He has taken 536 wickets from 121 matches at just under 21 runs apiece.
“I always believe in God and I know that at sometime, I would get that opportunity back again,” he said.
“I didn’t know when but I always believed in God and I know at some point in life and some stage in my career, I would get back an opportunity.”
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