West Indies won by 62 runs
PLAYER OF THE MATCH : Jason Holder
Batter
Bowler
This result gives Sri Lanka plenty to think about regarding their batting. Not that West Indies were much more convincing in that department either but as Holder noted, the bowlers more than made up for it. Wasn't the easiest track to bat on to be honest but some application could have gone a long way in producing better performances. West Indies will face Zimbabwe next on Saturday. Do join us for that. Till then, it's goodbye!
Jason Holder is Man of the Match
Holder: Thought the guys played well. Fell short on our batting target but we made up with the ball. Always good to get a win in whatever circumstances it is. Boys played well. Hopefully we can be consistent. They are three quality players and we back them [speaking about the debutants]. Good to see them play well under pressure. Quite surprising to win the Man of the Match award. Some very good performances obviously, Shannon Gabriel and Carter among those. At the end of the day, it's all about contributing to the team's win.
Jason Holder is Man of the Match
Tharanga: Our bowlers did a great job. The wicket was good. We lost three early wickets, and we didn't recover from that. We didn't have any good partnership. We have about 3-4 days of rest. In the batting department, we have to work a lot.
16:50 Local Time, 14:50 GMT, 20:20 IST: A solid bowling performance from West Indies and it made their total look much larger than it actually was. Holder set the tone right at the top by darting the ball around on a conducive track and tormented the Lankan top-order. Sri Lanka could never get a grip in the run-chase and were floundering right from the beginning having been reduced to 16/3. Dickwella and Tharanga strived to rebuild but a complete brain-freeze from the former saw him ramp Gabriel straight to third man. Then the debuting Nurse struck twice in quick succession to peg Lanka back big time. Pathirana dazzled for a while and even threatened a stunning comeback but couldn't sustain the effort with Nurse putting the final nail in the coffin.
S Gabriel to Kulasekara, out Caught by Lewis!! That's it. West Indies register their first away win since the World Cup 2015. Good catch in the deep to wrap it all up. Kulasekara makes room and heaves the length ball wide of long-on, he's not timed it all that well and that presents the opportunity. Lewis moves across, keeps his eyes on the ball and then dives with both hands. Not an acrobatic dive. But a safe one. Kulasekara c Lewis b S Gabriel 16(13) [4s-3]
S Gabriel to Kulasekara, THATS OUT!! Caught!!
END OF OVER 43
5 Runs
SL: 165 - 9
0 4 1 0 0 0
Kulasekara
16 (12)
N Pradeep
0 (4)
C Brathwaite
9-0-34-1
Brathwaite to Pradeep, no run, keeps it out. Nothing more could be asked of him at this stage. Speared in full on middle and leg, Pradeep defends by keeping his front leg out of the way
Brathwaite to Pradeep, no run, short of length just outside off, Pradeep mistimes the flat-batted swat to mid-off
Brathwaite to Pradeep, no run, length ball on middle, Pradeep jabs it off the inside half to mid-wicket
Brathwaite to Kulasekara, 1 run, full toss outside off, Kulasekara moves across on the back foot and drives it to sweeper cover. This time takes the single
Brathwaite to Kulasekara, FOUR, drilled. Similar to the last ball, but this time Kulasekara packs a lot more power down the ground
Brathwaite to Kulasekara, no run, nice and full. Kulasekara can't get under it as he drives down to long-on
END OF OVER 42
9 Runs
SL: 160 - 9
0 4 4 1 W 0
Kulasekara
11 (9)
N Pradeep
0 (1)
Shannon Gabriel
8-0-31-2
S Gabriel to Pradeep, no run, insipidly knocks the low full toss down the pitch and it rolls past Gabriel who is desperately trying to dive against his followthrough
Nuwan Pradeep, right handed bat, comes to the crease
S Gabriel to Lakmal, out Bowled!! He's missed a low full toss. Might have deflected off the front pad before crashing into the stumps. Old school tailender bowling from Gabriel. Keeping it right up there. It's good enough for Lakmal. West Indies one wicket away. Lakmal b S Gabriel 0(1)
S Gabriel to Lakmal, THATS OUT!! Bowled!!
S Gabriel to Kulasekara, 1 run, ah, good thinking from Gabriel. With Kula moving all over the place, he targets the stumps. Full and straight, almost goes through as Kulasekara swipes hard. The inside edge saves him. Rolls through behind square
S Gabriel to Kulasekara, FOUR, consecutive boundaries. Short ball outside off, Kulasekara backs away to further add to the room and slashes it over backward point