Windies down SL to level series

Narsingh Deonarine’s best figures of 3-25 helped suffocate Sri Lanka A’s middle order, after a promising start by the openers, in the second unofficial one-day match in Grenada steering West Indies ‘A’ to a 90-run victory and level the three-match series 1-1.

Set a modest target of 240 after West Indies ‘A’ captain Kirk Edwards won the toss, Sri Lanka ‘A’ captain Dimuth Karunaratne and wicketkeeper Niroshan Dickwella knocked over one-third of the target themselves with a 94-run opening partnership.

Karunaratne became one of Nikita Miller’s two victims in the 21st over, soon after scoring his second consecutive fifty of the series. Sri Lanka ‘A’, who were maintaining a healthy run-rate of nearly five per over until then, could only add 21 runs in the next ten overs, during which Deonarine’s part-time off-breaks claiming Angelo Perera, Thilina Kandamby and Ashan Priyanjan’s wickets.

Fast bowlers Sheldon Cotterrell and Jason Holder took two wickets each to polish off the tail as Sri Lanka ‘A’ folded for 150 in the 43rd over.

West Indies ‘A’ were also powered by a solid opening partnership, as Nkrumah Bonner made amends for his four-ball duck in the first match with a half-century that included five fours and a six. He and Lendl Simmons put on 89 runs before Simmons fell to left-arm spinner Chaturanga de Silva in the 23rd over. De Silva captured two more to finish his quota, as West Indies ‘A’ lost five wickets, including the crucial run-out of Deonarine, in their last ten overs. Cricinfo

Chief scores:

West Indies ‘A’: 240/9 (Nkrumah Bonner 64, Lendl Simmons 40, Narsingh Deonarine 34, Andre Fletcher 30, Devon Thomas 26, Chathuranga de Silva 3/43, Suranga Lakmal 2/59)

Sri Lanka ‘A’: 150 in 42.1 overs (Dimuth Karunaratne 51, Niroshan Dickwella 41, Dilruwan Perera 15, Thilina Kandamby 12, Narsingh Deonarine 3/25, Nikita Miller 2/23, Sheldon Cotterrell 2/25, Jason Holder 2/39).