Thursday, June 11, 2009

Jayasuriya strikes form, Lanka beat Windies by 15 runs

NOTTINGHAM, June 10 (PTI): Sanath Jayasuriya’s 47-ball 81 and his century stand for the first wicket with Tillakaratne Dilshan propelled Sri Lanka to a 15-run win over the West Indies in an inconsequential Twenty20 World Cup Group C match here today.

With both the sides making it to the Super Eight stage, the match had no bearing on their future in the tournament but Sri Lanka still began in the right earnest.

Put into bat, the Lankans got off to a solid start as openers Jayasuriya and Dilshan (74 off 47 balls) laid the foundation for a huge total before medium-pacer Lendl Simmons (4-19) managed to pull things back a little for the West Indies.

Chasing 193 for victory, West Indies managed 177 for five with Dwayne Bravo (51), Ramnaresh Sarwan (28 not out) and Lendl Simmons (27) shining with the bat even though it was not enough in the end.

West Indies started in a whirlwind fashion as openers Andre Fletcher (13) and Simmons put on 38 runs inside four overs before the former’s leg stump was uprooted by a slower full toss from Lasith Malinga.

Undeterred, Simmons carried on, hitting back-to-back fours off Muttiah Muralitharan but his all-round show was brought to an end by the wily off-spinner as the batsman perished at first slip.

Ajantha Mendis (2/25) then got into the act, removing Xavier Marshall (14) and Shivnarine Chanderpaul (1) in the same over and suddenly West Indies were in deep trouble.

Dwayne Bravo (51) and Ramnaresh Sarwan (28 not out) then teamed up, trying to pull West Indies out of the rut but with the Sri Lankan slow bowlers casting a spell, finding boundaries looked to be a tall order.

With the run rate steadily heading north, Bravo made a last ditch attempt, hitting Malinga for a six in the 18th over that also brought up his half-century, but perished the very next ball, holding out to Jehan Mubarak at mid-on.

Bravo, who added 77 runs for the fifth wicket with Sarwan, hit five fours and two sixes in his 38-ball stay.

http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=jun1109/Sports

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