West Indies 492 for 5 (Jangoo 187*, Chase 143*, A Fernando 2-53) lead Sri Lanka 308 (de Silva 120, Chandimal 54, Greaves 3-39) by 184 runs

The pair had come together after tea on day two and have in fact now batted out three full sessions unbeaten together, seeing out 85.5 overs. Jangoo went to tea on 187 off 327 balls, and Chase on 143 off 265. Thanks to this gargantuan stand, West Indies went to tea on day three leading by 184 runs. With more than two full days to play, and with the pitch still good for batting, they can perhaps now seriously think of batting just once in this match.

Sri Lanka’s attack looked ragged through most of the second session in particular. Although there was little turn on offer, they used their spinners plenty after lunch partly because their seam attack is lacking its fastest bowler – Lahiru Kumara, who has not taken the field since going off with a hamstring complaint early on day two. Milan Rathnayaka was the most menacing of Sri Lanka’s bowlers on day three, and had Chase dropped on 108 by a diving Kamindu Mendis at wide slip.

But the patience of the West Indies batters also helped set the tone. Jangoo and Chase had ground Sri Lanka down in the first session, then reaped much runs more freely in the second. They plundered 136 runs off 27 overs in the second session – a scoring rate a shade above five an over.

Partly the raised scoring rate was down to Sri Lanka’s tactic of spreading the field and awaiting a mistake, particularly in the first hour after lunch when spinners Sonal Dinusha and Kamindu were operating in tandem. Having reached his maiden Test hundred in the morning session, Jangoo was more assertive through this period, frequently using his feet to hit down the ground, while also rocking back to find runs square on the off side when the bowlers pitched slightly shorter. Chase’s progress, meanwhile, was partly driven by his excellent driving, especially through the covers.

Sri Lanka’s best over of the session was the 129th, when Rathnayaka drew the edges of both Chase and Jangoo. But where Kamindu couldn’t hold on to the first chance, the second – off Jangoo’s bat – flew through a large gap in the slips cordon. Jangoo had been batting on 167 at the time.

Chase’s progress to his hundred after going to lunch on 74 had been fairly smooth. He reached his milestone with a hard-run double square on the offside, which had been typical of this innings – he had largely focused on accumulation.

In the first session, Jangoo in particular had been incredibly watchful outside off stump, while Chase had also exercised restraint, leaving plenty of deliveries against the swinging second new ball. But batting became easier even in the hour before lunch, and only seemed to become more straightforward since.