Pathetic Windies go down tamely by 50 runs
 

Sa'adi Thawfeeq reporting from Dambulla

DAMBULLA, Tuesday, One must sympathise with the present West Indies side. They presented a pathetic picture of a ship, which had lost its moorings. Without super stars Brian Lara, Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan, the West Indies batting was no match even for a second string Sri Lanka seam bowling attack, which was sans Chaminda Vaas and Nuwan Zoysa.

After Sri Lanka had run up 241-6 in their allotted overs in the third day-night match of the tri-nation one-day series at the Rangiri Dambulla Stadium here today, it was quite evident that there was only one side that could win the contest.

It became more predictable when West Indies lost half their side for 39 by the time the field restrictions were relaxed. They were eventually dismissed for 191 to give Sri Lanka their second win in the competition by 50 runs and also collect their first bonus point. Sri Lanka won their first match against India by three wickets on Saturday and now has 11 points from two matches.

India has seven points from the same number of matches while West Indies are without a point after two matches.

Farveez Maharoof and Dilhara Lokuhettige, whose combined one-day international experience does not amount to more than 21 appearances, ripped the heart out of the West Indies top order taking the first five wickets. Maharoof bowling unchanged with the new ball conceded just nine runs taking three wickets in his 10 overs, half of which were maidens.

The youngster also excelled in the field. He dropped a sitter from Sylvester Joseph at deep fine leg but pulled off a difficult one off the same batsman in the same position three balls later. Mahroof's brilliant efforts on the field brought him his first man-of-the-match award in his 19th ODI.

Lokuhettige continued to impress with every outing and picked up two wickets in his first spell of seven overs, which yielded 30 runs. In Maharoof (20) and Lokuhettige (25) Sri Lanka have unearthed two exciting fast bowling all-rounders for the future.

That West Indies prolonged their innings till the start of the 46th over was due to a power-packed innings of 68 off 90 balls from 22-year-old Barbadian Dwayne Smith. He flayed the spinners especially Upul Chandana (taking 17 off his final over) before finally succumbing to Muralitharan's faster delivery. Smith's entertaining knock at least gave the sparse crowd something to cheer. He dominated a ninth wicket stand of 49 off 34 balls with debutant Deighton Butler whose share was only nine.

Apart from skipper Marvan Atapattu who made 70 off 108 balls (4 fours) and Kumar Sangakkara who top scored with 79 off 115 balls (9 fours) the rest of the Sri Lankan batting was rather unconvincing. The nature of the pitch, which was rather two-paced, may have also contributed to their unconvincing batting after they had won the toss and decided to bat first.

They failed to capitalize on some sloppy West Indies fielding and the total did not reflect the true capabilities of the team although they were minus their most experienced batsman Sanath Jayasuriya who was left out due to a shoulder injury.

Jayasuriya's place was given to 20-year-old debutant Upul Tharanga who could not make much headway in his first match being a shade unlucky to be ruled out lbw for six in the third over.

Atapattu and Sangakkara took charge from there onwards, but failed to dominate the West Indies bowlers. They used as much as 207 balls in adding 138 runs for the second wicket before Sangakkara going for his shots after completing his 20th one-day half-century off 88 balls hit a ball from off-spinner Narsingh Deonarine straight to cover.

Sangakkara's share in the partnership was 79 off 115 balls (9 fours). He was missed at 27 by Best (return catch) and at 74 by Lawson at short fine leg. Atapattu batted solidly for his 51st one-day fifty before he was run out attempting a run off a misfield. The cardinal rule for a batsman is never to run off a misfield and Atapattu with all his years of experience paid dearly for this lapse.

Dilhara Lokuhettige who impressed with his batting in the opening match against India was promoted in the order to no. 4, but after scoring nine he chanced his arm against Deonarine and was stumped.

Jayawardene and Dilshan fell cheaply to make it 205-6 and it was left to Russel Arnold and Upul Chandana to carry Sri Lanka to their final total with an unbroken stand of 36 off 33 balls.

West Indies made two changes to their side giving one-day caps to batsman Ryan Ramdass and left-arm fast bowler Deighton Butler. Butler bowled his 10 overs in one spell finishing with one for 25 including two maidens.

Sri Lanka plays India tomorrow in another day-night encounter.

SRI LANKA  

W.U. Tharanga lbw b Butler			 6 
M.S. Atapattu run out				70 
K.C. Sangakkara c Chanderpaul b Deonarine	79 
D.D. Lokuhettige st Ramdin b Deonarine		 9 
D.P.M. Jayawardene b Smith			16 
T.M. Dilshan run out				 4 
R.P. Arnold not out				21 
U.D.U. Chandana not out				15 
Extras (b-6, nb-4, nb-4, w-7)			21 
TOTAL (6 wkts inns closed, 50 overs)		241 
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-11, 2-149, 3-171, 4-191, 5-194, 6-205.  
DID NOT BAT: M.F. Maharoof, M. Muralitharan, 
C.R.D. Fernando. 
BOWLING: Butler 10-2-25-1 (1w, 2nb), Lawson 10-1-63-0 (1w), 
Best 10-1-39-0 (2w, 2nb), Smith 9-1-39-1, 
Deonarine 10-0-55-2 (3w), R. Powell 1-0-10-0. 

WEST INDIES 

X.M. Marshall c Sangakkara b Maharoof	 6  
R. Ramdass b Maharoof			 1 
S.C. Joseph c Maharoof b Lokuhettige	 9 
N. Deonarine b Fernando			23 
S. Chanderpaul c and b Lokuhettige	14 
R.L. Powell b Maharoof			 2 
D.R. Smith b Muralitharan		68 
D. Ramdin b Chandana			29 
T.L. Best lbw b Muralitharan		 1 
D.C. Butler not out			13 
J.J.C. Lawson st Sangakkara b Dilshan	 8 
Extras (b-4, lb-4, nb-3, w-6)		17 
TOTAL (all out, 45.1 overs)		191 
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-4, 2-18, 3-21, 4-36, 
5-39, 6-75, 7-121, 8-128, 9-177, 10-191. 
BOWLING: Maharoof 10-5-9-3 (1w), 
Lokuhettige 7-0-30-2(1w, 1nb), 
Muralitharan 10-1-46-2 (1w), 
Fernando 8-1-33-1 (1w, 2nb), 
Chandana 10-0-65-1 (2w), Dilshan 0.1-0-0-1.