West Indies Masters steal one-run win

The Cricket Legends of Barbados Cup got off to a thrilling start as the West Indies Masters defeated Sri Lanka Masters by one run in the opening game, under lights at the Kensington Oval.

Needing 12 runs to win off the last over, Sri Lanka were dismissed for 147 when Eric Upashantha was run out by wicketkeeper [no hyphen, it's one word] Courtney Browne while looking to steal a bye off Carl Hooper.

Marvan Atapattu top scored in the chase of 148 with a run-a-ball 44, before Courtney Walsh dismissed him in the 15th over. Indika de Saram was left unbeaten on 42 off 23 balls, including three sixes and one four.

Curtly Ambrose rolled back the years, bowling the openers with yorkers en route to figures of 3 for 21 from his four overs. Offspinners Nehemiah Perry and Carl Hooper snared two wickets apiece.

Earlier, after being asked to bat, the hosts reached 147 thanks to an unbroken seventh-wicket stand of 62 in 4.1 overs between Browne and Vasbert Drakes. Browne plundered 44 from 17 balls including four sixes and one four. Drakes chipped in with 18 from 11 deliveries to set up a competitive total.

Hooper, a crowd favourite, made an attractive 42 from 40 balls with six fours. He began with a hat-trick of boundaries off Upashantha in the sixth over. The first went to third-man, the next down the ground and the last through cover. However, he was run out by a direct hit from the keeper Romesh Kaluwitharana at the striker's end.

Former greats Gordon Greenidge and Vivian Richards were bowled for eight and one respectively. Collis King, the surprise hero of the 1979 World Cup final, got 21 before he was bowled by Ruwan Kalpage after striking the first six of the match over long on.