SL vs WI World Cup Warm Up Result: Sri lanka win by 4 wickets

Tags: ICC World Cup Warm-up Matches 2011, ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, Sri Lanka v West Indies at Colombo - Feb 15, 2011, Sri Lanka, West Indies, Warm-Up Matches

Published on: Feb 16, 2011

Scorecard | Commentary | Graphs

World Cup 2011 Warm Up Match: West Indies will continue with their World Cup warm-ups with their second game against the Sri Lankan side at the RPS in Colombo. Both sides had won their first games – West Indies defeated Kenya and Sri Lanka had murdered Netherlands in their respective first games.

Toss West Indies, who chose to bat first

Sri Lanka 282 for 6 (Sangakkara 71, Benn 3-40)

West Indies 281 (Gayle 58, Malinga 3-33)

Sri lanka win by 4 wickets

Sri Lanka's batsmen made light work of a tricky chase to give their side a four-wicket win in their World Cup warm-up game against West Indies in Colombo.

West Indies had scrapped to 281 on the back of half-centuries from Chris Gayle and Darren Bravo, but Sri Lanka's batsmen were never rushed as Tillakaratne Dilshan, captain Kumar Sangakkara and Thilan Samaraweera all made half-centuries to guide their team to victory.

Co-hosts Sri Lanka are one of the favourites for the World Cup and are looking to repeat the heroics of 1996 when - as a team of outsiders - they went on to win the trophy. Their victory on Tuesday was built on Lasith Malinga's three wickets and three key scalps for left-arm spinner Rangana Herath.

Malinga struck in the first over, removing Devon Smith. The opening position alongside Gayle is already a problem for West Indies, who have also used Adrian Barath in the position. The early wicket brought Darren Bravo to the crease and he combined with Gayle to give West Indies their most productive passage of the match. The pair rushed to 88 by the 12th over, with Gayle cracking eights fours and a six, before he fell to Muttiah Muralitharan for 58 from 38 deliveries.

It was Muralitharan's only wicket of the innings but was probably the most important to fall. Darren Bravo then found useful support from Ramnaresh Sarwan, who is showing good signs of form on his return to the side, but Herath struck twice in two overs to remove both. Some breezy lower-order batting from Darren Sammy (21), Carlton Baugh (29) and Andre Russell (19*) lifted the total to 281.

What should have been a competitive total was made easy with Upul Tharanga and Dilshan getting Sri Lanka off to a bright start. Dilshan was typically flamboyant, striking three sixes and five fours in his 50-ball 62. With Kemar Roach rested, West Indies' pacemen suffered - Andre Russell and Dwayne Bravo both coming in for fearful punishment. The spinners fared much better with Sulieman Benn taking the first of three wickets when he had Tharanga out.

It brought Sangakkara to the crease and he silkily worked his way to 71 from 89 balls, hitting just four boundaries to lay the foundations for the chase. After he fell Samaraweera took the responsibility and rotated the strike skilfully to make 55 at almost a run a ball before some late-order biffing from Chamara Kapugedera saw Sri Lanka over the line.

Related News