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Ajantha Mendis and Thisara Perera shared seven wickets as Sri Lanka won the third one—day international against the West Indies by 26 runs to clinch the series 2—0 on Sunday.
West Indies captain Darren Sammy won the toss and sent the hosts in to bat first at Sinhalese Sports Club. Sri Lanka made 277—9 in 50 overs with captain Kumar Sangakkara (75) and Mahela Jayawardene (44) sharing a 95—run partnership. Sulieman Benn took four wickets for the West Indies.
West Indies started their innings disastrously losing two wickets without scoring. Dilhara Fernando bowled Chris Gayle off the inside edge in the first ball of the innings and Perera had Adrian Barath caught by wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara to open the game with two maidens.
A 125—run partnership for the third wicket between Darren Bravo (79) and Ramnaresh Sarwan (44) lifted the West Indies’ spirits. But the touring side was limited thereafter and reached only 251 all out in 49 overs.
Left—arm spinner Rangana Herath struck in the 25th over when he trapped Sarwan lbw for 51 runs and three more wickets fell quickly for 34 runs.
Bravo was the star in the West Indies innings scoring 79 runs for his second ODI half—century, including nine boundaries and a six.
Carlton Baugh made 49 and Dwayne Bravo scored 32 in an attempt to push for victory but they could not keep up with a soaring required run rate.
Mendis took the wickets of Shivnarine Chanderpaul (3), Carlton Baugh (49), Nikita Miller (13) and Sulieman Benn (6) to finish with 4—46 and Perera returned 3—36.
Sammy said his players had still shown that they could compete to win the World Cup starting later this month.
“There’s always room for improvement. What we showed today was that if we put our heads down we could post challenging totals or chase challenging totals,” he said. “The batting of young Bravo was a positive today. Sarwan coming back into the side got two half—centuries. Towards the end, Sulieman Benn, playing his first ODI game in the series, (took wickets) and all in all we will take all these positives and prepare for the World Cup.”
Earlier, West Indies spinner Benn recorded 4—38 to hold Sri Lanka to 277.
Sri Lanka started the innings with a promising opening 54—run stand as Tillakaratne Dilshan scoring a brisk 30 off 28 balls including two boundaries and a six.
Sangakkara and Jayawardene shared 95 runs for the third wicket before Jayawardene was caught by Miller off seam bowler Ravi Rampaul.
The West Indies appeared to have slowed the scoring briefly, but Angelo Mathews (36 not out) accelerated the batting in the final 10 overs, sharing 33 runs with tailender Mendis off just 19 balls.
Sri Lanka won the second match last week by eight wickets and the first match was abandoned due to rain.
West Indies captain Darren Sammy won the toss and sent the hosts in to bat first at Sinhalese Sports Club. Sri Lanka made 277—9 in 50 overs with captain Kumar Sangakkara (75) and Mahela Jayawardene (44) sharing a 95—run partnership. Sulieman Benn took four wickets for the West Indies.
West Indies started their innings disastrously losing two wickets without scoring. Dilhara Fernando bowled Chris Gayle off the inside edge in the first ball of the innings and Perera had Adrian Barath caught by wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara to open the game with two maidens.
A 125—run partnership for the third wicket between Darren Bravo (79) and Ramnaresh Sarwan (44) lifted the West Indies’ spirits. But the touring side was limited thereafter and reached only 251 all out in 49 overs.
Left—arm spinner Rangana Herath struck in the 25th over when he trapped Sarwan lbw for 51 runs and three more wickets fell quickly for 34 runs.
Bravo was the star in the West Indies innings scoring 79 runs for his second ODI half—century, including nine boundaries and a six.
Carlton Baugh made 49 and Dwayne Bravo scored 32 in an attempt to push for victory but they could not keep up with a soaring required run rate.
Mendis took the wickets of Shivnarine Chanderpaul (3), Carlton Baugh (49), Nikita Miller (13) and Sulieman Benn (6) to finish with 4—46 and Perera returned 3—36.
Sammy said his players had still shown that they could compete to win the World Cup starting later this month.
“There’s always room for improvement. What we showed today was that if we put our heads down we could post challenging totals or chase challenging totals,” he said. “The batting of young Bravo was a positive today. Sarwan coming back into the side got two half—centuries. Towards the end, Sulieman Benn, playing his first ODI game in the series, (took wickets) and all in all we will take all these positives and prepare for the World Cup.”
Earlier, West Indies spinner Benn recorded 4—38 to hold Sri Lanka to 277.
Sri Lanka started the innings with a promising opening 54—run stand as Tillakaratne Dilshan scoring a brisk 30 off 28 balls including two boundaries and a six.
Sangakkara and Jayawardene shared 95 runs for the third wicket before Jayawardene was caught by Miller off seam bowler Ravi Rampaul.
The West Indies appeared to have slowed the scoring briefly, but Angelo Mathews (36 not out) accelerated the batting in the final 10 overs, sharing 33 runs with tailender Mendis off just 19 balls.
Sri Lanka won the second match last week by eight wickets and the first match was abandoned due to rain.