Tharanga strikes form hammers unbeaten ton:

Sri Lanka take 1-0 lead over Windies

Chris DHAMBARAGE

Opener Upul Tharanga returned to form with a chanceless century as Sri Lanka defeated the West Indies by eight wickets on the Duckworth and Lewis scoring method in the second one day international worked off at the SSC ground in Maitland Place yesterday.

The dashing left hander hit an unbeaten 101 as Sri Lanka reached their revised victory target with eight wickets and four overs to spare and to take a one nil lead in the three match series.

The Lankans suffered a major setback during their run chase when play was suspended in the 14th over due to rain when they had reached 46 for 1. The match restarted after half an hour delay and Sri Lanka's victory target was revised to 197 runs from 47 overs.

But that did not really unsettle the temperament of Upul Tharanga who played the sheet anchor role while carrying his bat throughout the innings. His century also had a great amount of significance because the last time he reached the three figure mark was in January 2010 where he hammered an unbeaten 118 against Bangladesh in Dhaka.

Since then he has struggled a bit to regain his touch and yesterday he snatched the opportunity to leave a lasting impression with an elegant century. He of course received excellent support from his captain Kumar Sangakkara with the pair adding 70 runs for the second wicket.

Former captain Mahela Jayawardena joined Tharanga and the pair added the finishing touches with an unfinished third wicket stand of 97 runs. Tharanga struck seven boundaries during his 143 ball innings while Jayawardena had six boundaries during his 46 ball 48 not out.

Earlier Sri Lanka produced a more disciplined bowling performance to restrict the West Indies to 203 runs from their 50 overs after having elected to field.

But they were deprived of any success until the tenth over following a promising opening stand of 45 runs between Chris Gayle and Adrian Barath.

Sri Lanka came back into the game by removing both openers in the space of two deliveries.

Darren Bravo and Ramnaresh Sarwan then rebuild the innings with a third wicket partnership of 49 runs.

However by that time the West Indies had utilized more than 25 overs and from there onwards they were really struggling to get closer towards the 200 run mark. Sri Lanka were equal to the task as they kept the pressure on until the end by capturing wickets at regular intervals.

The most striking feature was that they struck every time the West Indies were beginning to build up a substantial partnership.

Dwayne Bravo playing his first game in the series made a desperate attempt to put his side in front along with wicket keeper batsman Carlton Baugh.

But speed star Lasith Malinga struck three vital blows once again to put the home side on top while Nuwan Kulasekera snapped up two wickets to complete the landmark of claiming one hundred wickets while playing in his 83rd one day international.

Sri Lanka made one change to their side that played in the first one day international which was abandoned on Monday with spinner Rangana Herath coming in place of Ajantha Mendis.

WEST INDIES

C. Gayle c Samaraweera b M’tharan	28
A. Barath lbw b Kulasekara		12
Darren Bravo lbw b Malinga		39
R. Sarwan run out			21
Dwayne Bravo b Herath			39
K. Pollard b Malinga			 4
C. Baugh not out			28
D. Sammy run out			 4
N. Miller c Jayawardene b Muralitharan	 0
R. Rampaul b Malinga			 1
K. Roach b Kulasekara			 9
Extras (b1, lb8, w9)			18
TOTAL (all out; 50 overs)		203

Fall of wickets: 1-45, 2-45, 3-94, 4-132, 5-138, 6-175, 
	 	 7-187, 8-187, 9-192, 10-203.

Bowling: Malinga 10-0-30-3
	 Kulasekara 10-1-42-2 
	 Mathews 4-0-20-0
	 Muralitharan 10-2-42-2
	 Dilshan 7-0-27-0 
	 Herath 9-1-33-1

SRI LANKA
 (Revised target 197 off 47 overs)

U. Tharanga not out 			101
T. Dilshan c Baugh b Rampaul		 11
K. Sangakkara c Gayle b Dwayne Bravo	 20
M. Jayawardene not out			 48
Extras (lb3, w16)			 19
TOTAL (for two wickets; 42.3 overs)	199

Fall of wickets: 1-32, 2-102.

Bowling: Rampaul 7-0-27-1 
	 Roach 8-0-29-0 
	 Sammy 9-0-42-0 
	 Gayle 4-0-18-0 
	 Dwayne Bravo 5-0-29-1 
	 Miller 6.3-0-33-0 
	 Pollard 3-0-18-0