West Indies defended 227 superbly to defeat Sri Lanka by 62 runs in the second ODI of the Tri-Series in Harare today.
Chasing a modest 228 runs to win, Sri Lanka were bowled out for 165 as the Windies displayed a controlled bowling display on a typical Harare surface to gain a bonus point win and reach the top of the points table.
Debutant off-spinner Ashely Nurse picked up 3 wickets for 46 runs to torment the Lankan middle order while skipper Jason Holder was the most impressive for the West Indies taking 2 for 16 off his 8 overs as the Windies registered their first win over Sri Lanka at a neutral venue since 1999.
Lower order batsman Sachith Pathirana and Shehan Jayasuriya retaliated scoring 45 and 31 respectively but it was not enough for the South Asian Islanders who lost their top 6 batsmen for just 79 runs.
Pathirana swept and slog swept the spinners to inject some life into the Lankan chase while Jayasuriya managed to hang in there until Shannon Gabriel wrapped up the tail.
Opening Dhananjaya De Silva fell in the fourth over bowled by Holder as he inside edged to wicket-keeper Shai Hope who dived to his left and grabbed a smart take. Kusal Perera was sent back due to his keen fielding by Johnson Charles while Kusal Mendis became Holder’s second victim, slashing away from the body and managing to nick to the slip cordon.
Niroshan Dickwella played well for his 28 but threw it away gliding straight to third-man off Gabriel while Nurse removed both Upul Tharanga and Asela Gunarathne cheaply.
Earlier in the day, Tharanga won his second consecutive toss and elected to field first. Sri Lanka fielded an unchanged team from their win against Zimbabwe.
After the early exit of Johnson Charles and Kraigg Brathwaite, Evin Lewis and Shai Hope steadied West Indies with a watchful 49-run stand for the third wicket. Later on, left-handed Jonathan Carter top scored for the Windies with a fine 62-ball 54.
Debutants, Hope and Rovman Powell scored two contrasting innings of 47 and 44 respectively. Powell smashed 3 sixes and 2 fours during his quick-fire cameo while Hope battled through the middle overs and consumed 81 balls.
Although conditions were challenging early on, with Sri Lanka’s seamers exploiting lateral movement to good effect, the West Indies failed to show the required urgency during the middle overs. Nuwan Kulasekara started by running out opener Kraigg Brathwaite with a direct hit, and then dismissed Carter, caught at deep square-leg for 54.
Kulasekara went on to run out Holder with another direct hit towards the end of the innings, before trapping Sulieman Benn lbw. Nuwan Pradeep grabbed two important wickets in the death overs while Suranga Lakmal was outstanding taking 2 wickets for 45 runs.
The action will now move to Bulawayo as the hosts, Zimbabwe will take on West Indies on the 19th and Sri Lanka on 21st respectively before these two teams clash again on 23rd.
