Sri Lanka crushes feeble West Indies
By Roger Persaud
Stabroek News
April 2, 2007
A spectacular 115 by veteran Sri Lankan batsman, Sanath Jayasuria, propelled Sri Lanka to a 113-run victory over the West Indies in their third Super Eight match of the International Cricket Council's 2007 Cricket World Cup competition at the National Stadium at Providence yesterday.
Put in to bat Sri Lanka, 50-2 after 15 overs, went into overdrive in the remaining 35 overs to post a challenging 303-5 in 50 overs.
Jayasuriya, after a slow start where after 16 overs he had only scored 16 runs, man-handled the West Indian bowling striking 10 fours and four sixes while scoring 115 in just 101 balls.
His 25th ODI ton was his first against the West Indies, who, in reply, never even came close to challenging the sizeable total crumbling for 190 in 44.3 overs
Skipper Mahela Jayawardene was the perfect foil for Jayasuriya. He scored a well-composed 82 made from 113 balls with only two fours and a six.
The pair shared a third-wicket partnership of 183 highlighted by its discipline and perseverance that sank the West Indies hopes.
The home side won the toss and invited Sri Lanka to bat.
The record stadium crowd of 12,208 was treated to a good start as Sri Lanka was held in check, the first five overs yielding only 14 runs.
Darrell Powell continued his penchant for taking early wickets castling Upul Tharanga for eight in the sixth over, with a beauty than came back from outside the off stump.
The situation got even better when Kumar Sangakkara was caught behind off Ian Bradshaw for seven with the score on 35-2.
But Jayawardene and the experienced opener Jayasuriya slowly climbed out of the hole they were in, by not taking any chances. Then in the 17th over Jayasuriya caught fire smashing Bradshaw for two fours and in the next over he took Dwayne Smith for 18 including a six over long on.
The 37-year-old veteran, one of four surviving members of the victorious Sri Lankan 1996 World Cup squad, already the leading six hitter in ODI's with 233, reached two milestones in his memorable innings. He passed the recently retired Inzamam-ul-Haq as the number two scorer in ODI cricket, and his 384th game is the most by any player.
Sri Lanka, who looked flat for most their last match against South Africa, must have been fired up by Lasith Malinga's helmet trick at the end of that contest, because they looked a totally different team in this contest.
The West Indies, on the other hand, looked disorganized and listless in the field. After the first ten overs the body language seemed negative as the bowling and fielding deteriorated .
JeromeTaylor and Powell were the only impressive bowlers. The usually steady Chris Gayle had an off day with the ball. He started out by bowling two leg side long hops to Jayasuriya in his first over which were promptly clouted for boundaries.
The last two balls of the 50th over was indicative of the rest of the innings as Taylor allowed the penultimate ball to pass through his legs for four and Tillakaratne Dilshan hit the last ball over midwicket for six to end the innings.
The Windies needing 304 for victory opened with Dwayne Bravo and Chris Gayle, who lifted Malinga for a one bounce four over long off before being deceived by a slower ball from the same bowler and presenting a high difficult catch to Dilhara Fernando.
The experiment with Bravo did not pay off as he was soon clean bowled by left arm seamer Chaminda Vaas for 21 with the score on 40.
With Gayle and Bravo gone, West Indies hopes rested squarely on the shoulders of Lara and Chanderpaul. But wicketkeeper Sangakkara had other ideas.
He executed his first of two brilliant stumpings to remove the WI skipper for two, standing up close to the stumps off Vaas with the first ball of the 11th over.
West Indies were now in trouble at 42-3. Ramnaresh Sarwan joined Chanderpaul and the two Guyanese tried to slow down the rapidly rising required run rate.
Chanderpaul was especially severe on spinning wizard Muttiah Muralitharan clouting him for sixes.
The Guyanese pair gave the home team their only significant partnership, which was worth 92 runs for the fourth-wicket.
But Sangakkara struck again with another spectacular stumping this time removing Sarwan for 44 (1x4, 1x6) off the bowling of Jayasuriya dashing any hopes lingering in the mind of the West Indian fans.
Marlon Samuels surrendered leg-before-wicket to `Murali' while Denesh Ramadin played the ugliest of slog sweeps to be caught by Vaas off Jayasuriya.
Chanderpaul, now in an impossible situation lifted Malinga over square leg for six but was bowled next ball for a defiant 76 scored in 110 balls including one four and five sixes.
Dwayne Smith ran himself out for a second ball duck and the rest of the team folded meekly as West Indies ended on 190 all out in 44.3 overs.
The West Indies, having lost three consecutive Super Eight matches also failed to bat out the allotted 50 overs for the third time and are on the brink of elimination, and must win their next match against South Africa in nine days to stay alive in the competition.