At the close of a historic day in which St Lucia became the 8th Test venue in the Caribbean but only around 3 000 spectators graced the state-of-the-art Stadium, Sri Lanka were 250 for four off 87.1 overs.

The 32-year-old Atapattu, who captained Sri Lanka to a 2-1 triumph in the preceding One-Day series, was undefeated on 108, alongside Thilan Samaraweera, on seven.

A few minutes before a steady shower ended play at 5.30 p.m. with 2.5 overs left, Atapattu reached his 11th Test century in grand style by elegantly caressing debutant 18-year-old fast bowler Jerome Taylor through the covers for his 12th four.

It was Atapattu’s first century against the West Indies and spanned 232 balls and 348 minutes but overall, he faced 242 balls in his unconquered six-hour knock, which has been enriched by 13 fours.

Barbadian seam bowler Corey Collymore, making a return to the Test team for the first time in four years after playing his solitary Test against Australia in 1999, was the pick of the West Indian bowlers with two for 41 in 15 overs.

The two other wickets that fell went to the off-spin of Omari Banks and Chris Gayle as the West Indies’ inexperienced bowling attack, comprising three specialist bowlers - Collymore, Banks and Taylor - with a mere three Tests between them, probed but did not penetrate regular enough on a placid pitch.

The technically correct Atapattu, who has the distinction of scoring five double hundreds in his 64-match Test career, featured in two valuable partnerships during an engrossing, rather than entertaining day’s play.

Atapattu was the bedrock of the Sri Lankan innings as he added 108 runs for the second wicket with left-hander Kumar Sangakkara, who made a fluent 56 while Mahela Jayawardene hit 45 out of their 68-run third-wicket stand.

After winning the toss and batting, Sri Lanka made a cautious start, gathering only 29 runs off 13 overs in the first hour while losing the wicket of the experienced opener Sanath Jayasuriya for eight with the score on 19 for one.

Jayasuriya did not benefit from a reprieve he received on five when he gloved a hook shot off Collymore into wicketkeeper Ridley Jacobs’ gloves.

Collymore, restricted to One-Day appearances only in the last four years, showed all and sundry that he is capable of Test-match bowling when he induced Jayasuriya to cut a lifting delivery straight to gully where Omari Banks clung onto a stinging catch.

Sangakkara joined Atapattu and the pair batted fluently against the steady West Indian bowling, taking the score to 77 for one at lunch.

Atapattu was particularly severe on Taylor, who received a tough baptism as he conceded 76 runs in 18 wicketless overs after an inauspicious start with his first four overs yielding 23 runs.

The elegant Atapattu posted his fifty runs in 147 minutes off 107 balls with a flick off Taylor to the fine-leg boundary for his seventh four and progressed from 35 to 69 at the tea interval.

The left-handed Sangakkara took only 87 balls to reach his fifty, in 134 minutes, with six fours but fell in disappointing fashion when he padded out a delivery from Gayle and was ruled leg-before-wicket by umpire Billy Bowden.

Jayawardene replaced Sangakkara and escaped on four when Jacobs dropped a difficult leg-side chance off fast bowler Mervyn Dillon but took the score to 152 for two at tea as 75 runs were scored in the post-lunch session off 29 overs.

But just when Jayawardene was starting to consolidate Sri Lanka’s position, a ten-minute stoppage for rain midway into the final session, seemed to throw him off his rhythm.

In the first over after play restarted, Jayawardene prodded forward uncertainly at a drifter from Banks and the resulting edge was brilliantly caught one-handed by West Indies captain Brian Lara, diving away to his right at first slip.

Sri Lanka’s captain Hishan Tillekeratne filled the breach but made just 13 in 39 minutes at the crease before he played onto to a leg-cutter from Collymore, in the second over of his third spell of the day.

Sri Lanka got a couple of bonus boundaries, courtesy some ragged fielding by the weary West Indian players, especially Dillon, who seemed to forget the basics in fielding, making unnecessary dives instead of circling the ball and then fumbling the ball on the boundary line.

Atapattu moved to 98 with an on-driven four off Gayle, and even though he was kept on 99 for 15 minutes, he bided his time until the magic moment came with one of his trademark cover drives.

SRI LANKA 1st innings

M.Atapattu not out 108

S.Jayasuriya c Banks b Collymore 8

K.Sangakkara lbw b Gayle 56

M.Jayawardene c Lara b Banks 45

*H.Tillekeratne b Collymore 13

T.Samaraweera not out 7

Extras: (b-4, lb-1, w-2, nb-6) 13

Total: (4 wickets, 87.1 overs) 250

Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-127, 3-195, 4-228.