Gayle, bowlers give West Indies comfortable win

Jun 29, 2013 Sports

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ESPNcricinfo – Chris Gayle had failed to leave a mark in cold and wet England, but he probably knows there is only one thing cool in the warmer climes of Jamaica – he himself. And no one at Sabina Park would disagree. After a lean patch in the Champions Trophy where his highest score was 39, Gayle scored his 21st ODI century – his first against Sri Lanka – as West Indies brushed the visitors aside by six wickets and earned a bonus point in the first match of the tri-series.
Sri Lanka didn’t have a strong total to defend after their batsmen were felled by the spin of Sunil Narine. Angelo Mathews kept his main bowlers on throughout to try and ensnare the big fish, but Gayle kept blocking, blocking, and then powering it over the ropes with metronomic precision. The big wicket did come, when Gayle finally top-edged a sweep that was intended for the stands, but by then, the match was all but over.
It was a typically ‘measured’ Gayle innings, following its own rhythm, irrespective of the conditions, the pitch, the attack, and the field. He followed his own modus operandi – dead-bats to hittable deliveries, axe-swings against good ones – giving not even an inkling of a chance to the fielding side.
Defending a middling total, Sri Lanka knew Gayle was one hurdle they had to get past quickly, but it wasn’t to be. Mathews opened with Lasith Malinga and Nuwan Kulasekara as expected, but introduced Ajantha Mendis in the fifth over to see if Mendis could do what Narine had done in the first innings. Mathews persisted with fielders in catching positions, however, Gayle was in no hurry. Whenever it seemed a hit was needed, he had one.
But despite Gayle hitting three sixes and four fours in the first 10 overs, West Indies hadn’t run away. Johnson Charles was doing his best to keep Sri Lanka interested with a laboured stay. There couldn’t have been a starker contrast. Charles struggled to read Mendis’ spin and the quicks’ swing, his misery prolonged by first, a dropped catch by Mathews, and then, by the umpire who let him get away against two good lbw appeals. He finally hit his first boundary – a six – off his 45th ball, but from West Indies’ perspective, he helped put up 115 for the opening stand.
Sri Lanka’s openers had started positively after being put in but their lower middle order failed yet again to shore up a faltering innings after the dismissals of Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara, who fell to the menacing spin of Narine, and, but for a fighting half-century by Mathews, they could have finished with much less than the eventual score.
Jayawardene, opening for only the 26th time in 370 ODI innings, scored an effortless half-century, but the innings lost steam after he fell in the 18th over. The innings was, however, not about Jayawardene’s half-century, nor Narine’s four wickets, but about how Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal and Lahiru Thirimanne – the much talked-about, but yet to fire, young brigade – coped with the situation.
Mathews, dropped on 7, decided thereafter to curtail his strokemaking but this was also a chance for Chandimal and Thirimanne to send a message to their detractors. Instead, both allowed the pressure to build and fell to soft dismissals, reducing the innings to a crawl.
Only 15 runs came in the seven overs after the 28th and by the time they were forced to take the batting Powerplay, Sri Lanka were left with little firepower to take advantage. The Powerplay brought further damage. Ravi Rampaul picked up two quick wickets and Sri Lanka were left trying to use up the full quota of overs rather than going for runs.
That shouldn’t take away anything from the way West Indies came back. Dwayne Bravo had elected to field hoping his fast bowlers would exploit the early moisture in the pitch, but Sri Lanka’s openers had made smooth progress to 62 and it was Bravo who provided the first strike, getting Upul Tharanga to edge to the keeper. There was no looking back once Narine, who now has 33 wickets from 14 matches at home, was introduced. Gayle then provided the ideal finishing touches.

Scoreboard
West Indies Tri-Nation Series – 1st match
Played at Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica
28 June 2013 (50-over match)
Sri Lanka innings (50 overs maximum)
WU Tharanga     c †Ramdin b DJ Bravo 25     56
DPMD Jayawardene     c †Ramdin b Narine     52
KC Sangakkara†     c Pollard b Narine     17
LD Chandimal     c DJ Bravo b Samuels 21
AD Mathews*     not out                 55
HDRL Thirimanne     c Charles b Rampaul       6
KMDN Kulasekara     c Pollard b Rampaul       2
BMAJ Mendis     c Samuels b Narine       5
HMRKB Herath     c Sammy b Rampaul       4
SL Malinga     lbw b Narine                               8
BAW Mendis     c Charles b DJ Bravo                   2
Extras     (b 5, lb 2, w 4)                              11
Total (all out; 48.3 overs) (4.28 runs)         208

Fall of wickets: 1-62, 2-85, 3-104, 4-140, 5-151,
6-159, 7-176, 8-190, 9-205, 10-208

Bowling     O     M     R     W     Econ
KAJ Roach     7     1     41     0     5.85
R Rampaul     10     0     38     3     3.80     (3w)
DJG Sammy     10     0     34     0     3.40
DJ Bravo     7.3     0     37     2     4.93
SP Narine     10     0     40     4     4.00
MN Samuels     4     1     11     1     2.75     (1w)

West Indies innings (target: 209 runs from 50 overs)
CH Gayle     c Chandimal b BAW Mendis     109
J Charles     c Jayawardene b Herath       29
DM Bravo     run out (Malinga/Kulasekara)   27
MN Samuels     not out                               15
KA Pollard     lbw b Kulasekara                     0
DJ Bravo*     not out                                 8
Extras     (b 4, lb 7, w 10)                             21
Total     (4 wickets; 37.5 overs) (5.52 runs) 209
Did not bat D Ramdin†, DJG Sammy,
SP Narine, R Rampaul, KAJ Roach

Fall of wickets 1-115, 2-181, 3-190, 4-193

Bowling                 O     M     R     W     Econ
SL Malinga                 7     0     34     0     4.85     (1w)
KMDN Kulasekara     8     1     39     1     4.87
BAW Mendis               10     0     53     1     5.30     (3w)
AD Mathews                 5     0     28     0     5.60
HMRKB Herath     6     0     37     1     6.16
BMAJ Mendis     1.5     1     7     0     3.81

Match details
Toss: West Indies, who chose to field
Result: West Indies won by 6 wickets (with 73 balls remaining)
Points: West Indies 5, Sri Lanka 0
Player of the match: CH Gayle (West Indies)
Umpires: IJ Gould (England) and JS Wilson
TV umpire: N Duguid
Match referee: JJ Crowe (New Zealand)
Reserve umpire: PJ Nero

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