Sri Lanka squash West Indian hopes of consolatory victory

Sri Lanka squashed Caribbean hopes for a face saving victory to end an otherwise ill-fated tour when they defeated West Indies by 34 runs to win the LG Abans triangular series at Premadasa International Stadium on Wednesday night.

The hosts dominated the game, as they had been expected to, right from the time man of the match and series Sanath Jayasuriya won an important toss in the afternoon. Their batsmen posted a challenging 254 target, later reduced to 247 in 47 overs because of rain, but did have some nervy moments after a century stand between openers Daren Ganga (50) and Chris Gayle (60).

Both Ganga and Gayle struggled in early overs, playing and missing regularly, as the new ball darted around on a generally placid pitch freshened by some light drizzle during the interval, before growing in confidence and adding 111 in 148 balls.

But when off-spinner Kumar Dharmasena knocked back Ganga's middle stump, as the right-hander tried to work the ball to leg shortly after reaching his fourth half century of the tournament, the wickets started to tumble and the run rate quickly skyrocketed out of control.

Gayle soon followed his partner, as he skewed a catch to backward point, to leave West Indies with two new batsmen at the crease. Ramnaresh Sarwan was then caught behind and West Indies, having lost three wickets for ten runs, were 121 for three.

The ball turning and the fielding sharp, the innings stalled. Carl Hooper tried to resuscitate it with a breezy 34 but wickets continued to fall: Marlon Samuels was run out after calling for a suicidal second run, Ricardo Powell was brilliantly caught by Upul Chandana running in from the mid-wicket boundary, Hooper himself was also caught in the deep as he looked for his second six and Ridley Jacobs was stumped.

Earlier in the day, Sri Lanka's top order had performed solidly, with both Jayasuriya (64) and Jaywardene (63) scoring entertaining half-centuries. Run scoring was never easy, especially against the slower bowlers, though Jayasuriya still managed to clump nine fours and a six.

Sri Lank looked set for a huge total, on 154 for two at one stage, but after the dismissal of Marvan Atapattu (38) the innings fell away slightly, as four batsmen were needlessly run out. Nevertheless, Muttiah Muralitharan took their total past 250 with a crowd pleasing six in the final over and such a target was always going to be tricky.