Sri Lanka squashed Caribbean hopes for a face saving victory to end an
otherwise ill-fated tour when they defeated West Indies by 34 runs to win
the LG Abans triangular series at Premadasa International Stadium on
Wednesday night.
The hosts dominated the game, as they had been expected to, right from the
time man of the match and series Sanath Jayasuriya won an important toss in
the afternoon. Their batsmen posted a challenging 254 target, later reduced
to 247 in 47 overs because of rain, but did have some nervy moments after a
century stand between openers Daren Ganga (50) and Chris Gayle (60).
Both Ganga and Gayle struggled in early overs, playing and missing
regularly, as the new ball darted around on a generally placid pitch
freshened by some light drizzle during the interval, before growing in
confidence and adding 111 in 148 balls.
But when off-spinner Kumar Dharmasena knocked back Ganga's middle stump, as
the right-hander tried to work the ball to leg shortly after reaching his
fourth half century of the tournament, the wickets started to tumble and the
run rate quickly skyrocketed out of control.
Gayle soon followed his partner, as he skewed a catch to backward point, to
leave West Indies with two new batsmen at the crease. Ramnaresh Sarwan was
then caught behind and West Indies, having lost three wickets for ten runs,
were 121 for three.
The ball turning and the fielding sharp, the innings stalled. Carl Hooper
tried to resuscitate it with a breezy 34 but wickets continued to fall:
Marlon Samuels was run out after calling for a suicidal second run, Ricardo
Powell was brilliantly caught by Upul Chandana running in from the
mid-wicket boundary, Hooper himself was also caught in the deep as he looked
for his second six and Ridley Jacobs was stumped.
Earlier in the day, Sri Lanka's top order had performed solidly, with both
Jayasuriya (64) and Jaywardene (63) scoring entertaining half-centuries. Run
scoring was never easy, especially against the slower bowlers, though
Jayasuriya still managed to clump nine fours and a six.
Sri Lank looked set for a huge total, on 154 for two at one stage, but after
the dismissal of Marvan Atapattu (38) the innings fell away slightly, as
four batsmen were needlessly run out. Nevertheless, Muttiah Muralitharan
took their total past 250 with a crowd pleasing six in the final over and
such a target was always going to be tricky.