COLOMBO – A six off a free hit in the penultimate over saw Sri Lanka across the finish line in a rain-affected first One Day International cricket match at R Premadasa Stadium today.
Chasing 160 for victory, Sri Lanka scored 164 for nine to beat West Indies by one wicket in a match where the advantage swung back and forth.
Johnson Charles bowled a no-ball on what should have been the last ball of the penultimate over, gifting Sri Lanka the extra ball. Ajantha Mendis lofted it over long-on to bring up the win. He scored 21, while opener Tillakaratne Dilshan topscored with 59 off 32 balls.
Angelo Mathews was full of praise for his number 9 batsman for delivering in the 1st #SLvWI ODI pic.twitter.com/ftuGdUbJTj
It spoiled a fantastic return by spinner Sunil Narine who took three wickets and proved a wild finish to a match where West Indies fought back to take the advantage.
Back With A Bang! Sunil Narine bowled a magic spell including 3 wickets in 1 over. How good was that? #SLvWI pic.twitter.com/0xhI1VG9fs
Carlos Brathwaite and Jonathan Carter took two wickets each.
Earlier, West Indies scored 159 for eight off 26 overs after rain had interrupted play with them on 40-3 after 14.2 overs. They did well to get past 150 behind 41 from Andre Rusell, 38 from Darren Bravo and 36 off 13 balls from skipper Jason Holder before he was run out.
Suranja Lakmal took three for 15.
Summarised scores:
West Indies 159-8 in 26 overs (Andre Russell 41, Darren Bravo 38, Jason Holder 36; Suranja Lakmal 3-15, Ajantha Mendis 2-46). Sri Lanka 164-9 in 25 overs (Tillakaratne Dilshan 59, Ajantha Mendis 21, Lahiri Thirimanne 17, Kubal Perera 14, Angelo Matthews 13, Danushka Gunathilaka 12; Sunil Narine 3-21, Jonathan Carter 2-14, Carlos Brathwaite 2-35). Sri Lanka won by one wicket. (SAT)
