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1st Semi Final: West Indies v Sri Lanka, live ball-by-ball commentary



1st Semi-Final: Sri Lanka beat West Indies by 3 runs
West Indies 68 (10/10 overs)
Gayle 46, Hooper 17, 5 extras
De Silva 2-35, Jayawardene 1-60
Sri Lanka 71 (10/10 overs)
Jayawardene 42, De Silva 24, 5 extras
Hooper 0-39, Gayle 0-40

9.1 Gayle to Jayawardene - 1 - quick single to short fine leg
9.2 Gayle to De Silva - 1 - misfield, the crowd howls in derision!
9.3 Gayle to Jayawardene - 4 - swept, Sri Lanka pass the total
Now they must just keep wickets intact
9.4 Gayle to Jayawardene - 0 - defensive, doesn't want to lose 10
The crowd are willing Gayle on here
Silly point in now
9.5 Gayle to Jayawardene - 0
9.6 Gayle to Jayawardene - 0 - pushed into the off side just past silly point, and Sri Lanka keep their score at 71 to beat the West Indies.
Full scores to follow

Jayawardene batted well there. He certainly looks a lot more relaxed than he was in the World Cup.
England will play New Zealand. Shahid Afridi is still injured and must be hugely disappointed to miss the semis. They certainly looked by far the best of the sides here.

England thought they were out so all sorts of arrangements have to be reorganised to get them back to the ground from their sailing race!

They made a pact with Zimbabwe yesterday just to have fun in their last game which they thought was meaningless. as it turned out, their victory was valuable and kept them in the competition!

The next semi will take place at 12:15 local time (1615 GMT).


Important over coming up
8.1 Hooper to De Silva - 4 - picked up off a length through mid wicket
8.2 Hooper to De Silva - 1 - quick single, shy at the stumps
8.3 Hooper to Jayawardene - 4 - great shot backward of square on the off side, leaves the fielder standing
8.4 Hooper to Jayawardene - 1 - quick single
8.5 Hooper to De Silva - 1 - quick single to third man
8.6 Hooper to Jayawardene - 1 - driven to long on
Score is 65: Jayawardene 37 De Silva 24, 4 extras
Windies need a wicket

7.1 Gayle to Jayawardene - 1
7.2 Gayle to De Silva - 1 out to the cover boundary
7.3 Gayle to Jayawrdene - OUT - amazing run out! That could be just what West Indies need. They tried a quick single and Aravinda was just short. Direct hit. -10 and the crowd are buzzing - the score is down to 46! 7.4 Gayle to De Silva - 1 - out the boundary at cow corner
7.5 Gayle to Jayawardene - 4 - down the pitch, lofted through mid wicket, one bounce four
7.6 Gayle to Jayawardene - 2 - flicked off his legs down to backward square
Score is 53 - two overs left, should be a good finish, 69 to win

6.1 Hooper to Jayawardene - 1
6.2 Hooper to De Silva - 4 - down on one knee, hoisted over mid wicket
6.3 Hooper to De Silva - 1 - quick single to backward square on the off
6.4 Hooper to Jayawardene - 1
6.5 Hooper to De Silva - 0
6.6 Hooper to De Silva - 0
Score is 54 off 6 overs. 4 overs left, 15 to win

5.1 Gayle to Jayawardene - 0
5.2 Gayle to Jayawardene - 4 - short, pulled to fine leg, beats the fielder hands down
5.3 Gayle to Jayawardene - 0
5.4 Gayle to Jayawardene - 1 - trots through
5.5 Gayle to De Silva - 2 - makes room down to backward point
5.6 Gayle to De Silva - 0 - played back to the bowler
Score is 47: 23 to Jayawardene 21 to De Silva

4.1 Hooper to Jayawardene - 1
4.2 Hooper to De Silva - 1
4.3 Hooper to Jayawardene - 1
4.4 Hooper to Jayawardene 1 - out into the covers
4.5 Hooper to De Silva - 0 - makes room ,straight to fielder
4.6 Hooper to De Silva - 2 - makes room again, no run but a misfield so go through for 2
Score is 40

3.1 Gayle to De Silva - 0
3.2 Gayle to De Silva - 4 - makes room and cuts through the off side, that's the Aravinda of old
We've just heard that England will replace Pakistan due to Afridi's injury!
3.3 Gayle to De Silva - 4 - driven nicely through the covers
3.4 Gayle to De Silva - 0
3.5 Gayle to De Silva - 4 - poor ball, good over this for Aravinda
3.6 Gayle to De Silva - 0
Score is 30: 12 to Jayawardene 16 to De Silva

2.1 Hooper to Jayawardene - 0
2.2 Hooper to Jayawardene - 1
2.3 Hooper to De Silva - 0
2.4 Hooper to De Silva - 1
2.5 Hooper to Jayawardene - 0 - sweep straight to fielder
2.6 Hooper to Jayawardene - 0 - great over, tucks him up and only 2 off the over

1.1 Gayle to Jayawardene - 1 - glide to mid wicket
1.2 Gayle to Jayawardene - 1 - into the covers
1.3 Gayle to Jayawardene - 0
1.4 Gayle to De Silva - 1 - attempted sweep, just the single as it goes fine
1.5 Gayle to Jayawardene - 1 - Good fielding from the St Lucian first class players
1.6 Gayle to De Silva - 0 - tries to take a quick single but the man at point comes in quickly and saves it
Score is 17 off 2 overs: Jayawardene 11 De Silva 3 3 extras

The umpires are coming out here now with 69 to win. The Beausejour Stadium is a new ground in the northern part of St Lucia. Reckonded by many to be the best facility in the West Indies, the St Lucians will be hoping to host some big games in the 2007 World Cup - maybe even the final. There is room for expansion here - it currently holds 14,000 but could be taken up to 33,000 for the finals.

Hooper will start off here. The fielders may be quite enthusiastic and will probably up their game for the West Indies!

Jayawadene on strike
0.1 Hooper to Jayawadene - 1 - pushed nicely down to long on, opens his account
0.2 Hooper to De Silva - 1 - chipped to mid wicket
0.3 Hooper to Jayawardene - 4 - lovely late cut through backward point. Polite applause.
0.4 Hooper to Jayawardene - 2 - driven out to midwicket
0.5 Hooper to Jayawardene - 1 - driven to long on
0.6 Hooper to De Silva - 0 - straight to the square leg fielder as Hooper bowls on leg stump
Score is 9: Jayawardene 8, De Silva 1


West Indies innings:

You see how the wickets affect the total? That would have been huge had they not lost those three vital wickets.
So, seventy to win for Sri Lanka - it's a par total, nothing more, and if Aravinda and Jayawardene don't lose wickets, they should get there. Hooper and Gayle will have other ideas, and both bowled well to Pakistan reducing them to minus 35 at one stage before the game was abandoned.

So join us in 5 minutes for the second innings. Hope you're keeping up with all this - the losing of 10 runs every time a wicket falls certainly changes the complexion of the match.

Scoreboard correction here, score is 68, Hooper 17 Gayle 46 extras 5
De Silva 2-35, Jayawardene 1-60


9.1 Jayawardene to Gayle - 0 - no run into the off side
9.2 Jayawardene to Gayle - 0 - gone all quiet
9.3 Jayawardene to Gayle - WIDE - down the leg side
9.4 Jayawardene to Gayle - 6 - spoke too soon! Big six into the players balcony.
9.5 Jayawadene to Gayle - 6 - another one! over mid wicket, just clears the boundary, the umpire checks with the crowd as there is no TV here
9.6 Jayawardene to Gayle - 2 - another drive to mid on, scamper 2
9.6 Jayawardene to Gayle - 6 - great over for the Windies, the crowd have come to see this. Finishes it with a six.

8.1 De Silva to Gayle - 0 - lucky to get away with that as it goes down leg side
8.2 De Silva to Gayle - OUT -10 - bowled as he tries to drop it down to third man
score down to 43
8.3 De Silva to Gayle - 0 - no connection there
8.4 De Silva to Gayle - 0 - good bowling by Aravinda, wind out of Gayle's sails here
8.5 De Silva to Gayle - 1 - safety first as he drives to long on
8.6 De Silva to Hooper - 4 - lovely sweep in front of square as Hooper bisects the field
Score 48 Hooper 18 Gayle 26 (lost 10 in that over)

7.1 Jayawardene to Gayle - Wide - leg side
7.1 Jayawardene to Gayle - 4 - lovely off drive, beats the diving fielder
7.2 Jayawardene to Gayle - 1 - dropped down into the on side
7.3 Jayawardene to Hooper - 1 - straight, gets inside it and drops it down behind square on the leg
7.4 Jayawardene to Gayle - 6 - fantastic strike over long on, used his feet, Gayle on fire here
7.5 Jayawardene to Gayle - 1 - another big hit tried, doesn't connect fully, down to midwicket
7.6 Jayawardene to Hooper - 0 - no run, fielder on the 45 on the leg side
Score 53: Hooper 14 Gayle 35
Gayle going very nicely here
The crowd are right behind him

6.1 De Silva to Hooper - 0 - outside off stump, Hooper looks to drop it down, straight to the fielder
6.2 De Silva to Hooper - 0 - no room again, De Silva bowling well
6.3 De Silva to Hooper - -10 - OUT - lbw to Aravinda as he tries to sweep
6.4 De Silva to Hooper - 1 - pushed into on side
6.5 De Silva to Gayle - 4 - short, big pull, bisects midon and midwicket, crowd love this from Gayle
6.6 De Silva to Gayle - 1 - chipped into on side for an easy one
Lot of support around the ground here for Chris Gayle
Score is 39: Hooper 13 (lost 10) Gayle 26

5.1 Jayawardene to Hooper - 1 - defensive behind square on the off side
5.2 Jayawardene to Gayle - 1 - nice cover drive but there's a man out there.
fielding restrictions ended after 5 overs
5.3 Jayawardene to Hooper - 1 - touched into the on side for an easy 1
5.4 Jayawardene to Gayle - 1 - full on leg side, glanced behind square into the gap
5.5 Jayawardene to Hooper - 0 - nice delivery, moving in, cramped Hooper for room, rolls out into off side
5.6 Jayawardene to Hooper - 1 - tucked into the on side
Score is 42, Hooper 21, Gayle 19
4 overs left

4.1 De Silva to Hooper - 4 - through the square leg fielder
4.2 De Silva to Hooper - 1 - pushed into the off side
4.3 De Silva to Gayle - 2 - legside, sweep, misfield at square leg, they take 2
4.4 De Silva to Gayle - 1 - outside leg stump, sweep again behind square. field change as short mid wicket in for hooper
4.5 De Silva to Hooper - 1 - to square leg
4.6 De Silva to Gayle - 1 - to deep mid wicket boundary rider, well fielded
Score is 38, Hooper 19 Gayle 17 (lost 10 for the wicket)

3.1 Jayawardene to Hooper - 1 - easy one to mid on
3.2 Jayawardene to Gayle - OUT - -10, caught at mid on, didn't go through with the shot
3.3 Jayawardene to Gayle - 1 - into the covers, easy 1 taken
3.4 Jayawardene to Hooper - 4 - delicate leg glace, poor delivery by the part-timer
3.5 Jayawadene to Hooper - 0 - much better, defensive from Hoops
3.6 Jayawardene to Hooper - 1 - dropped down to third man
Score is now 28: Gayle 13 Hooper 13 extras 2

2.1 De Silva to Hooper - 1 - dropped down to third man
2.2 De Silve to Gayle - 4 - big swipe again down leg side, goes to fine leg, easily beats the fielder
2.3 De Silva to Gayle - 0 - down leg side, attempted sweep, big convincing appeal turned down as Jacobs collects.
2.4 De Silva to Gayle - 0
2.5 De Silva to Gayle - 0 - defensive
2.6 De Silva to Gayle - 0 - cautious play here
Score after 3 overs is 31

1.1 Jayawardene to Hooper - 1 - dropped down to fine leg, easy single
1.2 Jayawardene to Gayle - 6 - down on one knee, huge slog sweep, the crowd go wild, big six over midwicket
1.3 Jayawardene to Gayle - 1 - pushed into the covers
1.4 Jayawadene to Hooper - 1 to mid on
1.5 Jayawardene to Gayle, 2 - scamper 2 to backward square
1.6 Jayawardene to Gayle - 4 - chipped over the West Indies home fielder, not much of an effort there! Ball one bounce 4.
Score is 26: Hooper 6 Gayle 18 extras 2

0.1 De Silva to Hooper - 1 run, pushed to midwicket, easy single
0.2 De Silva to Gayle - WIDE - down the leg side, 2 runs taken as Jacobs is beaten
0.3 De Silva to Gayle - 4 - hit hard uppish to mid off, dropped by the fielder
0.4 De Silva to Gayle - 1 - dropped down to third man
0.5 De Silva to Hooper - 2 - driven through point
0.6 De Silva to Hooper - 1 - pushed into the covers
11 off the first over, good start. Gayle 5 Hooper 4 Extras 2

The umpires are now coming out. The news is that Sri Lanka have won the toss and are fielding, so we'll see Carl Hooper and Chris Gayle straightaway.

Chris Gayle comes out first, followed by Carl Hooper who is now jogging onto the ground.

The first over will be bowled by Aravinda de Silva who has bowled well throughout.
Carl Hooper on strike.
A few practice deliveries here from Aravinda.


Good morning and welcome to the Beausejour Cricket Ground on the paradise island of St Lucia. We have three games for you today - two semi finals and a final of the Double Wicket World Championship. If you've not followed the group games, we've already lost Zimbabwe, England, South Africa and Australia over the last 2 days. The first semi final starts at 10:15 local time, and will be between West Indies and Sri Lanka. West Indies are somewhat controversially represented by Chris Gayle and Carl Hooper, while Sri Lanka feature Aravinda de Silva and Mahela Jayawardene.

The second semi is between Pakistan and New Zealand. Pakistan are the form horses, but a cloud of doubt lies over their team. Shahid Afridi injured his back yesterday afternoon during the game against England, and was unable to continue during the game against West Indies. He has been undergoing intensive treatment overnight and hopes to play this afternoon. The crowd will be hoping so too, as he has been by far the most exciting player of the tournament to watch. In his first game he hit 50 in just 12 balls. We expect more of the same when play starts in just under half an hour.

The semi-finals will be over 10 overs per side. Each bowler bowls 5 overs, and the batsmen lose 10 runs every time they are dismissed. Each side must bat their full 10 overs, since even if they have passed the opposition score, they could go backwards by losing wickets. So there is all to play for throughout this exciting format of the game.

The other major development this morning is that Chris Gayle has been left out of the West Indies side to play Australia later this week. No reason has been given, although the fact that he is missing the final of the Carib Cup in favour of the Double Wicket is perhaps a factor. We hope to clarify the situation during the course of the day.

There really is a great atmosphere building up here. The disco in the Piton Party stand is already at full blast, we have a steel band competing with that, and there is an improvised drum band in the FICS Stand. The crowd is building up nicely, and should be the biggest of the three days today.

The players really are having a great time here in St Lucia. Those who were eliminated are apparently taking part in an "americas cup" catamaran race off Rodney Bay today - we hope to provide you with the result of that later in the day too!