Windies take out dead rubber

West Indies took out the 3rd and final one day international against Sri Lanka over night with a 6-wicket win in a rain affected game. The win was a boost for the Windies they did however loose the series 2-1.

Sri Lanka's batting, the key to their remarkable series-clinching win at Bridgetown at the weekend, struggled against a next generation West Indies pace attack. Corey Colleymore lead the way, claiming 3 for 38, as Sri Lanka were bowled out for a below-par 191 on an excellent batting strip.

West Indies chasing a sub standard total got of to a steady start before Hinds picked out cover, he was gone for (19) and the West Indies where (38-1). That got B Lara out into the middle where he has been in magical form with the bat.

Sri lanka sought it was time for Muttiah Muralitharan to come on and hopefully rip through the Windies batting line up. B Lara played him slowly but surely and was eating away and the star bowlers overs. It was time for a bowling change and Attapatu bought on Kumar Dharmasena, in what was a big move, and first ball Lara skipped down the wicket and dispatched Dharmasena back over the fence, however next ball Lara relaxed and tried to play the same shot but it failed and Lara was out for (14), West Indies (56 – 2)

The runs started to dry up. Neither Gayle, who crawled along, facing 75 deliveries for his 21, and Ramaresh Sarwan were comfortable. The pressure started to mount. Eventually, Gayle was bowled around his legs after missing a lazy waft to leg (81 for 3).

But Marlon Samuels, who had earlier fielded brilliantly, pulling off two athletic run outs and one stupendous leaping catch, swaggered to the crease as storm clouds gathered around this seaside ground. He quickly reestablished West Indies' grip on the game, walloping two sixes in an over off Upul Chandana and three in all, racing to 30 off just 16 balls before rain forced the players from the field.

The break did not dampen the spirits of the crowd, or the ambitions of Samuels, the eventual man of the match, as West Indies were set a revised target (186 off 48 overs). Sarwan (25) was caught at slip of Muralitharan, but Samuels and Ricardo Powell kept ahead of the Duckworth/Lewis target before final rain interruption. The pair returned to knock off the required 10 runs after another revised target (160 in 42 overs). Samuels finished with 45 from 38 balls.

Earlier, Jayawardene had top scored, steadily building the innings together after the fall of early wickets. Coming to the crease with Sri Lanka tottering on 63 for 4, he scored 51 from 74 balls before missing a full toss in the penultimate over of the innings. It was his first fifty in 18 matches and ended a wretched run with the bat that stretched back to the VB Series in Australia.

But Jayawardene's innings was not enough to wrestle back the initiative won earlier by West Indies' pace bowlers. Colleymore was the pick of them, taking 3 for 28 from his 10 overs, but there was also promising back-up from the inexperienced Jerome Taylor and Darren Powell, who were surprisingly included ahead of Mervyn Dillon and Vasbert Drakes.

Powell was energetic and steady on his comeback, and Taylor, just 18-years-old with only a handful of first-class games under his belt for Jamaica, was impressive on his first outing, generating a lively pace from a smooth run and fluid action. There was no sign of first day nerves and he settled down so well, taking 2 for 36, that his name will surely be seriously discussed for the Test series.

The pace bowlers were well supported by their part-time spinners, Ryan Hurley, Gayle and Samuels, and Sri Lanka had to graft hard for their runs. The only partnerships of note were between Jayawardene and Chandana (57 in 109 balls) for the fifth wicket and Jayawardene and Dharmasena (42 in 38 balls) for the seventh. However, the innings then fell away in the slog overs to set-up a comfortable West Indies win.

Posted by Rob