Chris Gayle and the West Indies bowlers took their side to an easy 6 wicket victory over Sri Lanka at Sabina Park yesterday.
Sri Lanka, put into bat by West Indian skipper Dwayne Bravo in the opening match of the tri-series got off to a good start, with the new look opening pair of Tharanga and Jayewardene put on a half century stand for the first wicket. Tharanga, who is replacing the injured Dilshan, hasn’t played international cricket in quite a while, and it showed, as he had his outside edge beaten constantly by the West Indian bowlers. After surviving the initial onslaught he looked to be getting his touch back, but wasted a start by loosely cutting a wide delivery on 25, only to edge it to the keeper. Mahela, who moved up the order after Kusal Perera was dropped due to poor form, looked in great touch, and hit a confident half century, leaving Sri Lanka prettily placed at 84 – 1 at one stage.
It was Sunil Narine who initiated the downfall of Sri Lanka, as he scalped the wickets of the Lankans stalwarts Jayewardene and Sangakkara, in quick succession. The situation was ideal for the much talked-about, but yet to fire, young brigade – Mathews, Chandimal and Thirimanne – to send a message to their detractors, but all of them failed to get going, and the Sri Lankan scoring rate dropped rapidly. Chandimal and Thirimanne fell to soft dismissals, and though Mathews scored yet another fighting fifty, Sri Lanka were only able to put 208 runs on the board. Narine finished the innings with 4 wickets to his name.
The total never looked enough, and once Chris Gayle got going, it looked positively miniscule. Mathews kept his main bowlers on throughout, in hope of picking up wickets, but Gayle played a typical innings of blocking ball after ball before powering one over the ropes effortlessly, as he made his way to his 21st ODI century. There was a minor flutter towards the end, as the Lankans picked up three wickets in four overs, but in the end the West Indians cruised home comfortably, with 12.1 overs to spare, picking up the bonus point to boot.
West Indies 209 for 4 (Gayle 109) beat Sri Lanka 208 (Mathews 55*, Jayawardene 52, Narine 4-40, Rampaul 3-38) by six wickets
