Denesh Ramdin celebrates after reaching his half-century on Day I of the first Test in Colombo on Wednesday. (Reuters)

Colombo: Captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul and debutant Denesh Ramdin scored half centuries to guide the West Indies to 271 for six on the opening day of their two-Test series against Sri Lanka.

The inexperienced tourists, missing 10 leading players due to a protracted player contracts dispute, were expected to struggle against a full-strength Sri Lanka team but produced a battling display that left the home side frustrated.

Chanderpaul led from the front, unbeaten on 69, an innings that mixed crab-like defence with sweetly-timed clips and drives.

The 30-year-old left-hander, added 79 in one-and-a-half hours with Ramdin and another 79 with Omari Banks after the tea interval in an unbroken seventh-wicket stand.

The partnerships helped the West Indies recover from a shaky 113 for five and gave them a chance of posting a respectable first-innings score after their brave decision to bat first under overcast skies.

“It was a good tough day of Test cricket on a good batting pitch and our guys fought hard throughout most of the day,” Sri Lanka’s new coach Tom Moody said.

“The West Indies showed a lot of character and batted well throughout the day. There were some signs that we have not played Test cricket for a few months but we got better and better as the day went on and I’m sure that will continue. The game is very much in the balance at the moment.”

Teenage wicket-keeper Ramdin, a 19-year-old from Trinidad and Tobago, kick-started the fight-back with a powerful 56 from 73 balls that included nine boundaries.

Ramdin rode his luck against the fast bowlers, edging on three separate occasions either over or just wide of a large cordon of slips, while Chanderpaul lived fortuitously against spin wizard Muttiah Muralidharan.

Muralidharan bowled tightly and with growing confidence on his return to the international arena after an 11-month lay-off after two shoulder operations, finishing with one for 56 from 29 overs.

Earlier, Sri Lanka had made an ideal start to their 150th Test when Chaminda Vaas swung back a delivery into the pads of 19-year-old Xavier Marshall (10) to win an leg-before decision.

Runako Morton, 26, then showed early fight with a plucky and aggressive 43 from 74 balls, sharing a useful 58 run stand for the second wicket with Sylvester Joseph.

Sri Lanka regained their initiative before the lunch break though when rookie all rounder Gayan Wijekoon was awarded a marginal leg-before appeal against Joseph.

Muralidharan then bowled Morton after luring the right-hander into ambitious drive.

The West Indies went to lunch on 105 for three before slipping deeper into the mire immediately after as Narsingh Deonarine (12) was caught behind flashing at a wide delivery from Malinga.

Dwaine Smith was trapped plumb leg before two balls later by a Malinga inswinger.

Ramdin, one of three debutants in the West Indies side, reacted positively to the crisis and stroked his way to a maiden fifty off just 64 balls.