Bonner arrived at the wicket in the 18th over following the dismissal of Kieran Powell for 31 by Rahkeem Cornwall after he (Powell) and Shayne Moseley shared in an opening stand of 47.
Moseley was the second wicket to fall in the 32nd over, also to the bowling of Cornwall, for 39 after adding 35 with Bonner for the second wicket. Captain Jermaine Blackwood and Bonner then put on 55 for the third wicket when the former was trapped lbw by Preston McSween for 27.
Blackwood’s dismissal paved the way for an 88-run stand between Bonner and Kavem Hodge, who was eventually trapped lbw by Veerasammy Permaul for 39.
Bonner has so far faced 200 balls and hit seven fours and two sixes will resume his 12-run partnership with Raymon Reifer who is at the other end on two.
Cornwall has so far taken 2-52 from 16 overs while Permaul has 1-52 and McSween 1-25.
The BestvBest matches are to prepare players for the upcoming West Indies tour of Sri Lanka following the conclusion of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates.
Bonner scored an unbeaten 113 and featured in partnerships of 66 with Captain Kraigg Braithwaite, who made 23 and 105 with Kyle Mayers, who scored 52.
The 32-year-old Bonner was also involved with an unbroken stand of 32 with Jason Holder (18) when play was called off in the final hour of play with the West Indies 236 for 4 pursuing 375 for victory.
Bonner, who was 15 overnight, faced 274 balls in his knock that lasted 423 minutes in which time he hit 13 fours and a six.
It was a performance that earned him the Man of the Match Award.
"It's truly special for me. This is my childhood dream and I'm really happy I got this monkey off my back,” said Bonner, who came close to a Test century on two previous occasions when he scored 86 and 90 in two Tests against Bangladesh in January.
Bonner who was dismissed for 31 in the first innings, revealed, however, that scoring his first Test century did not come without challenges.
“The first innings my foot wasn't moving as much as I wanted it too,” he said.
“Sri Lankan bowlers are very disciplined so it was very important to me to stay disciplined and play in the V as much as possible. I think Lakmal was really challenging. All of them are challenging but he was a cut above the rest."
Lakmal who took five wickets in the West Indies first innings of 271, ended without a wicket in the second innings but the pressure he created yielded wickets for his teammates. Vishwa Fernando took 2-73 while Lasith Embuldeniya had 2-62.
Scores in the match: Sri Lanka 169 and 476. West Indies 271 and 236-4.
Chasing a target of 348, the West Indies were bowled out for 160 after lunch mere minutes before the rains came.
Bonner remained unbeaten on 68 that was made over the course of 220 balls while da Silva made a solid 54.
The pair came together on Wednesday evening with the West Indies tottering on 18-6 and resumed from their overnight total of 52-6, hoping to bat through the final day and perhaps some match-saving rainfall.
Riding their luck, the pair put on exactly 100 runs in 286 balls for the seventh wicket when Lasith Embuldeniya got one to spin across the Trinidadian, who was caught at slip.
The West Indies went to lunch at 125-7 with Bonner on 42 and Rahkeem Cornwall, who replaced da Silva, on five. On the resumption, the pair took the score to 149, a partnership of 31, when Cornwall, inexplicably tried to go down the ground to a Praveen Jayawickrama delivery that was in the slot but only managed to hole out to long-off.
Bonner and Gabriel added 11 more runs before the latter lost his wicket to Embuldeniya without scoring, sealing the victory for the hosts.
Embuldeniya finished with figures of 5-46 while Ramesh Mendis, who did the damage on Wednesday returned 4-64.
Captain Kraigg Brathwaite praised Bonner and da Silva for their efforts but lamented that the remainder of the batsmen let the team down.
“I thought Joshua and Bonner, the way they fought from yesterday evening, was tremendous,” he said while indicating that there were some positives to take away from the match.
“I always believe first innings total is important, and then build pressure. (The) Sri Lanka skipper played well. It was important for us to get close to their score.”
I thought Joshua and Bonner, the way they fought from yesterday evening, was tremendous. I always believe first innings total is important, and then build pressure. Sri Lanka skipper played well. Gabriel getting two wickets, Roston getting five, we were decent, they batted well but our batting let us down."
