Ajantha Mendis became the unlikely hero with the bat as he guided Sri Lanka to a close one-wicket win over West Indies in the rain-hit first ODI played at R. Premadasa International Stadium on Sunday night.
Mendis kept his composure to hit an invaluable 21 including the winning six after Sunil Narine broke the Lankan batting’s backbone with a three-wicket over. West Indies posted 159 for 8 before TM Dilshan led the Lankan chase with his fastest ODI half-century.
Photo Album – Sri Lanka Vs West Indies – 1st ODI
Ajantha Mendis swatted a big six off Johnson Charles’ free-hit delivery in the penultimate over as Sri Lanka sneaked to victory in a dramatic end.
Earlier, the start of play was delayed by 80 minutes due to wet ground conditions before Angelo Mathews won the toss and opted to field first. Sri Lanka fielded two debutants in their lineup.
Suranga Lakmal used the overhead conditions perfectly to induce swing and dismiss the Windies top-order before the lengthy rain-break. Lakmal’s first victim was Johnson Charles when he made no proper stride on to the front foot and was caught plumb in front for just 2.
Lakmal was once again rewarded in his 2nd over when Andre Fletched guided a harmless wide delivery straight to Dilshan at backward point. Marlon Samuels’ horrid run against Sri Lanka continued when he shuffled across and was given LBW to Lakmal, though the West Indian reviewed the decision.
Jonathan Carter and Darren Bravo batted carefully until rain arrived at 5.03pm when the score was 40 for 3 in 14.2 overs. After the three and half hours lengthy interruption, debutant Shehan Jayasuriya picked up his maiden ODI wicket dismissing Carter for 8 runs.
Bravo played the anchor role during his 58-ball 38 but the real impetus came when Andre Russell came out and blasted 41 from just 24 deliveries with 3 effortless sixes and 3 fours. Skipper Angelo Mathews brought himself on and straight away broke the 58-run stand for the 5th wicket when Russell holed out at long-off to Danushka Gunathilaka.
Mendis playing his first ODI since December 2014 rattled the stumps when Darren Bravo’s cross-bat heave missed contact with the ball. Carlos Brathwaite had to face the same fate when trying to up the scoring-rate; he became Mendis’ 150th ODI wicket, fastest Sri Lankan to achieve this feat.
Skipper Jason Holder came to the crease in the 23rd over and played a stunning cameo of 36 off 13 balls with 3 massive sixes to provide a strong finish to the Windies innings. Incidentally, after the rain break, West Indies made 119 runs in just 11.4 overs as the bowlers found it difficult to grip the wet ball.
Chasing 163 runs to win the match in 26 overs, Dilshan and Kusal Perera got off to a whirlwind start by adding 46 runs to the first wicket before Perera (14) was run-out from a direct hit by Jonathan Carter in the 5th over.
Dilshan punished the lackluster Windies bowling in the mandatory powerplay. The fast-bowlers continued to persist with the short delivery and the 39-year old was quick to pounce on everything which was short of length. He scored 38 runs square of the wicket on the leg side.
Lahiru Thirimanne drove away from his body and was caught by keeper for 17 as Carlos Brathwaite picked up his first scalp. The hosts’ lost their 3rd wicket in the 13th over when TM Dilshan fell trying to carve it through the point region but ended up giving a simple chance to the keeper off Brathwaite.
The visitors crawled back into the game when Sri Lanka lost Mathews with 43 runs needed to win. Mathews sliced a wide and short delivery straight to third-man off Taylor to end his knock of 13.
Narine turned the game on its head when he captured 3 wickets in the 19th over of the Lankan innings. Firstly, Milinda Siriwardana gave a straightforward catch to mid-on and two balls later, Shehan Jayasuriya inside edged back to the stumps. Danushka Gunathilaka’s 18-ball innings of 12 was ended in the final ball by a screamer of a delivery which cleaned him up completely.
Andre Russell injured his ankle while bowling his first over and it proved costly for the Windies as they were short of a bowler but part-time seamer Jonathan Carter removed Senanayake and Malinga in two consecutive balls to peg back Sri Lanka once again.
West Indies – 159/8 in 26 overs: Andre Russell 41, Darren Bravo 38, Jason Holder 36, Suranga Lakmal 3/15, Ajantha Mendis 2/46.
Sri Lanka – 164/9 in 24.5 overs: TM Dilshan 59, Ajantha Mendis 21*, Lahiru Thirimanne 17, Carlos Brathwaite 2/35, Sunil Narine 3/21, Jonathan Carter 2/14.
