Chase lauds ‘perfect’ WI Test

West Indies secured a commanding "perfect" victory over Sri Lanka, winning the opening Test by an innings and 217 runs at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium. Captain Roston Chase lauded the team's flawless execution of their pre-match plans, describing the performance as a dream come true.

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I think it was a perfect Test match for me. Everything that we sat and planned with the guys, with the team, with the management staff, the guys came out there and executed them beautifully. So it’s like a dream come true, like you’re in a dream and everything is happening the way you want it. It was perfect. It was beautiful to be a part of and I’m thankful for the win.

The West Indies dominated the match, bowling Sri Lanka out for 308 and 101, while posting a massive 626 for nine declared. Central to this triumph was a record-breaking 401-run sixth-wicket partnership between Amir Jangoo, who scored his maiden Test double century with 233, and captain Chase, who achieved a personal best score of 194.

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He sat and he told me what he expected of me. He said that Dhananjaya De Silva, the captain of the next team, literally put the team on his back and made a hundred and got into a respectable total, so he expected the same from me. So I just sat down and tried to talk to myself and put myself in that frame of mind to go out there and do the same thing.

On the bowling front, Kemar Roach achieved a significant milestone, becoming the sixth West Indies bowler to reach 300 Test wickets. Chase revealed that his own century was spurred by encouragement from head coach Daren Sammy, who reminded him of the responsibility captains carry, particularly after Sri Lanka's captain Dhananjaya De Silva had also scored a century.

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We decided that to start we needed to leave a lot of balls because most of the dismissals they were looking to get were nick-offs with the ball shaping away. We thought once we could leave a bit of balls early on that would be good just to get in, and then once we got in it would be easier to get some runs, as we saw from the Sri Lankan batsmen. That was just the plan and it worked well.

Chase also detailed the team's strategic approach to batting, emphasizing patience and selective shot-making against Sri Lanka's attack. The team decided to leave many balls outside the off-stump early on, anticipating that the ball would shape away, a tactic that proved successful. The scoreboard served as a constant motivator, highlighting partnership and team score milestones throughout the innings.

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One thing that really kept us going was looking at the scoreboard all the time. It was either always coming up to a partnership milestone, or a team score milestone, or th