Clean sweep for Windies in T20

West Indies’ Andre Russell plays a shot during the second Twenty20 international cricket match of a two-match series between Sri Lanka and West Indies at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Kandy on 6 March – AFP

West Indies’ Brandon King plays 

a shot during the second Twenty20 international cricket match of a 

two-match series between Sri Lanka and West Indies at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Kandy on 6 March – AFP 

By Shamseer Jaleel 

reporting from Pallekelle

West Indies ended their tour of Sri Lanka on a high note when they beat Sri Lanka by 7 wickets in their second and last T20 at the Pallekelle International Cricket Stadium last night in front of a packed 35,000 stadium.

West Indies won the toss and elected to field first. They went for this match unchanged from the first one while Sri Lanka had one change – Isuru Udana giving in way for local boy, Lahiru Kumara.

Sri Lanka once again opened their innings with Avishka Fernando and Kusal Perera. They both put on 16 runs before Avishka lost his wicket for 9. Shehan Jayasuriya, who missed out on batting well in the first T20, played well in his short stint at the wicket. But he, too, threw his wicket in a hurry when he was out for 16. Sri Lanka had a double disaster at 46 when they lost out on inform Kusal Perera for 15. This brought in Angelo Mathews and Kusal Mendis to the crease. 

Both Kusal Mendis and Angelo Mathews batted beautifully, adding 33 runs for the 4th wicket. Kusal Mendis fell to a leg side full toss delivery of Bravo for 11. At 95 runs, Angelo Mathews lost his wicket for a well-compiled 23 before being run out through a direct hit by Fabian Allen trying for a quick single. The Sri Lankan crowd heavily expected Wanidu Hasaranga to play well, but that plan did not last long as the ever-lively Cottrell had his first wicket at Pallekelle when he had Hasaranga for 8. Both Dasun Shanaka (31) and Thisara Perera (21) batted well, putting in an unbroken 46 runs for the 7th wicket with some risky shots towards the end of the innings, which helped the home team to put up 155 in their 20 overs.

West Indies taking lease for the wicket, put on 23 for the first wicket before losing out on consistent Simmons for 9. This gave Sri Lanka a glimmer of hope at the packed Pallekelle with a crowd of 35,000. But both King and Hetmyer batted brilliantly fading away Sri Lankan hopes of a comeback and win in this encounter. King hit Malinga for 2 huge 6’s in one over as Malinga went over 30 runs in his 2 overs of bowling. With local boy Lahiru Kumara coming in to bowl, he took the wicket of King who hit high in the air for skipper Malinga to take an easy catch. King scored a brisk 43 in only 21 balls with 6 boundaries and 2 huge 6’s. Powell lost his wicket going for a big hit caught in the deep by Shehan Jayasuriya. This brought in Andre Russell to join Hetmyer to the crease. But an unbroken partnership between Russell and Hetmyer of 53 runs for the 4th wicket took West Indies with an easy 7 wickets win with 3 overs to spare. Russell’s hurricane innings of 40 came in only 14 balls inclusive of 6 huge 6’s while Hitmyer scored his unbeaten 43 with 3 boundaries.

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) with support from Kandy District Cricket Association (KDCA) headed by Janaka Pathirana, Roland Perera and his committee, did a commendable job with all the match arrangements; security and selling of tickets were handled in a professional manner with no incidents in the three Kandy encounters at Pallekelle.

Chief Scores

Sri Lanka 155 for 6 in 20 overs

Dasun Shanaka 31 not out, Thisara Perera 21 not out, Angelo Mathews 23, Shehan Jayasuriya 16, Kushal Perera 15

Fabian Allen 2 for 24, Oshane Thomas 1 for 24, Sheldon Cottrell 1 for 29, Dwayne Bravo 1 for 35

West Indies 158 for 3 in 17 overs

Shimron Heymyer 42 not out, Andrew Russell 40 not out, Brandon King 43, Rovman Powell 17

Dasun Shanaka 1 for 10, Angelo Mathews 1 for 26, Lahiru Kumara 1 for 33

West Indies won by 7 wickets and the series by 2/0

Man of the Match and Series Andre Russell

Umpires Raveendra Wimalasiri and Lyndon Hannibal

Match Referee Javagal Srinarth