Atapattu's unwavering concentration confounded the West Indies bowlers, who laboured to break up the solid partnerships he formed with Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene.

He reached his 11th Test century after almost six hours at the crease, scoring 12 boundaries.

"The West Indies bowled well in patches but couldn't keep the pressure going for very long periods. I concentrated on staying there and capitalising on this," Atapattu told reporters.

Sri Lanka captain Hashan Tillakaratne was amply rewarded for his decision to bat first on a Beausejour track that made life easy for the batsmen.

West Indies's three-pronged pace attack of Mervyn Dillon, Corey Collymore and debutant Jerome Taylor, 18, struggled to achieve any real penetration in difficult bowling conditions.

One-day specialist Collymore came out best, with two for 41 off 15.1 overs, in his first Test match since a solitary appearance in 1999.

West Indies started well when Sanath Jayasuriya (8) cut Collymore to Omari Banks at gully, leaving Sri Lanka on 19 for one.

Sangakkara then scored 56 in a 108-run stand with Atapattu before being trapped lbw by Chris Gayle in the 44th over.

Dillon worked hard to ruffle the feathers of Jayawardene, who gave a half chance that was spurned by wicketkeeper Ridley Jacobs. The Sri Lankan batsman responded with a fine drive through extra cover in the same over.

Another shortish Dillon delivery brought a loud appeal against Jayawardene but umpire Billy Bowden turned down claims that the ball had taken a thin edge.

Off spinner Banks finally dismissed Jayawardene (45) with a sharply turning delivery that he edged to Brian Lara at slip. Tillakaratne then chopped Collymore on to his off stump for 13.

West Indies skipper Brian Lara praised the efforts of his attack. "We weren't getting much out of the surface, especially the fast bowlers," he said.

"It was like a game of patience and it was a great effort to get them down to three runs an over, and we took most of our chances when they came."