Sport
Twenty20 Cricket: West Indies fall to Sri Lanka
(BBC) – Sri Lanka are on the brink of the World Twenty20 semi-finals after beating the West Indies by nine wickets to go top of their Super Eights group.
The Windies limped to 20-2 in the six-over and only posted 129-5.
Spinner Ajantha Mendis was the pick of the home side’s bowlers as he finished with figures of 2-16.
The run chase was turned into a procession by Mahela Jayawardene (65) and Kumar Sangakkara (39), who put on 108 to wrap up an easy victory.
The veteran duo were at their supreme best as they paced themselves through the innings and finished the job with 28 balls to spare in a flurry of fours.
The West Indies, on the other hand, looked a shadow of the side which beat England on Thursday and will now face New Zealand on Monday with a semi-final place on the line.
The West Indies never recovered from a poor start in which they lost both their big-hitting openers.
Johnson Charles failed to read Ajantha Mendis’s googly and was stumped for 12 and Chris Gayle was caught behind for two off slashing wildly at a Nuwan Kulasekara ball well outside off stump.
Dwayne Bravo and Marlon Samuels did their best to get the West Indies back into the match with a partnership of 65, but the Sri Lanka spinners wrestled back the initiative.
Bravo holed out to long-on off Jeevan Mendis for 40 and Kieron Pollard was bowled by the brilliant Ajantha, who took his tournament-leading wicket tally to nine.
Samuels continued to carry the fight, spanking the longest six of the tournament at 102 metres as the Windies plundered 21 runs off Kulasekara’s last over.
But they could only add 10 more from the final 12 balls as Malinga and Mathews rounded off a superb bowling performance.
Tillakaratne Dilshan set the tone for a routine run chase as he steered three consecutive balls from Fidel Edwards to the boundary.
His dismissal to Ravi Rampaul was of little consequence as Jayawardene and Sangakkara effortlessly steered their side home.
Sri Lanka’s captain Jayawardene scored heavily over the infield on the off side to reach his sixth Twenty20 fifty, while Sangakkara contented himself with a supporting role.
With the end in sight, Jaywardene cracked Rampaul for four boundaries in the 15th over.
And a forgettable day for the West Indies was complete when an overthrow gifted Sri Lanka the winning run.