20th over: West Indies 129 for 5 Angelo Mathews to bowl the last over. Russell
is off the strike off the first ball and Samuels departs off the next.
Pulls it really hard but finds Dilshan who runs from long-on towards his
right to take a stunner on the boundary. 7 off the over.
19th over: West Indies 122 for 4 Malinga continues. Fifty for
Samuels. His fourth T20 fifty. It came off 34 balls. Meanwhile, Malinga
has bowled an excellent over, just two off the first five balls. Let's
see what happens off the last. Russell gets a single. Just three off the
over.
18th over: West Indies 119 for 4 Kulasekara returns and Andre
Russell launches him into the stands at long-on. Sheer power. Now Marlon
Samuels gets in on the act. Hits it straight back
over the bowler's head. Another demonstration of power. It travelled
102 metres, the biggest so far in this tournament. The previous best was
Shane Watson's 98 metres. Gets a four. Muscles it past the covers.
Another four. Hits it straight back. Sheer power-hitting. 21 off the
over. Just the over West Indies needed.
17th over: West Indies 98 for 4 Malinga returns. Five singles
and a double. Tight over. The Windies need some big shots to get up a
decent score against the hosts. Remember, the average first innings
total here is 173.
16th over: West Indies 91 for 4 Now Ajantha Mendis comes on to
bowl and he gets rid of the woefully out-of-form Kieron Pollard. The big
batsman fails to read the line of the ball and gets cleaned up. Great
stuff by the Sri Lankan mystery spinner. Andre Russell is the new
batsman in. Just one run in the over with a wicket.
Pollard b BAW Mendis 1 (6)
15th over: West Indies 90 for 3 Jeevan Mendis comes back on and
gets rid of Dwayne Bravo. The ball is a bit short and Bravo bludgeons
it but finds Tillakaratne Dilshan at long-on. Pollard up next.
Meanwhile, Samuels gets a six over mid-wicket. It's 93 metres.
Bravo c Dilshan b BMAJ Mendis 40 (34)
14th over: West Indies 80 for 2 Angelo Mathews returns. The
lowest defended total at Pallekele is 155. To get there both these
batsmen have got to up the ante. Bravo is listening to me, I guess.
Gets a four off the fifth ball. Nicely timed shot that goes past point
in a flash. Two off the last. This is the highest third wicket stand for
the Windies in this tournament. 64 runs.
13th over: West Indies 71 for 2 Lasith Malinga returns and
Samuels takes a four off the second, just guides it past the
wicketkeeper Sangakkara. With that comes up a fifty-run partnership.
This is the highest 3rd wicket partnership in the Sri Lanka-West Indies
T20s. Eight runs come off the over.
12th over: West Indies 63 for 2 Now Ajantha Mendis. Samuels is
having a hard time against him but that's not the case with Bravo, who
hit a big six. It was a long hop and Bravo was onto it in a flash. A
sight to sore eyes.
11th over: West Indies 55 for 2 Jeevan Mendis comes on. Bowls a tight over. Just two off it.
10th over: West Indies 53 for 2 Herath continues. Bravo goes
inside out for a big six over the covers. What timing. That was 200th
six for the team in T20s. The average first innings total at Pallekele
is 173. WI need to up the ante to get there from here. 11 runs off the
over.
9th over: West Indies 42 for 2 Mendis replaces Mathews. Samuels
picks up a two off the fist. Both batsmen are having a hard time
against the mystery spinner. He is the leading wicket-taker in this
tournament with eight scalps. The end of another good over. Just four
off it.
8th over: West Indies 38 for 2 Rangana Herath comes into bowl.
He is Dananjaya's replacement for this match. Bravo fetches another
boundary, off the third ball. It's a half-volley and the allrounder is
onto it in a flash. It races to the boundary in the blink of an eye.
Three dot balls finish the over.
7th over: West Indies 33 for 2 Angelo Mathews comes on to bowl.
Marlon Samuels spring into action with a four off the second ball. The
edge off his bat goes past wicketkeeper Sangakkara. Mahela now brings a
slip in. Now Bravo gets in on the act. His four is more convincing. The
ball is a bit full and wide. He makes the most of it, the fielders at
the covers could do nothing. Good over for the Caribbean team. 13 off
it.
6th over: West Indies 20 for 2 Gayle also goes. The Kulasekara
delivery is too wide for a cut but Gayle still goes for it. Pays the
penalty as Kumar Sangakkara takes an easy catch behind the wickets. A
big blow to the Caribbean team. Dwayne Bravo comes in and opens his
account with a four off the first ball he plays.
Gayle c †Sangakkara b Kulasekara 2 (9)
5th over: West Indies 16 for 1 Ajantha Mendis comes into bowl.
He took six wickets against Zimbabwe in a group match. He is a dangerous
man. A huge appeal against Johnson Charles off the second ball. It
pitched a bit outside the offstump. Johnson out!
Charles st †Sangakkara b BAW Mendis 12 (21)
4th over: West Indies 14 for 0 Kulasekara continues. Another good over. Just two off it.
3rd over: West Indies 12 for 0 Here comes Lasith Malinga and
gets treated with a four by Johnson Charles. The ball was way down the
leg side and all Charles had to was just flick off his pads. Another
four off the fourth ball. Charles again. Hits it straight back, a short
arm jab. Eight off the over.
2nd over: West Indies 4 for 0 Nuwan Kulasekara to bowl.
Accuracy is his middle name and that stands him in good stead. Great
over. Just one over. Superb stuff. It's not easy to do that against the
likes of Gayle and Charles.
1st over: West Indies 3 for 0 Chris Gayle and Johnson Charles
walk out to the middle. Both batsmen are in form. Charles scored 84 in
the last match against Engalnd, while Gayle chipped in with 58. Angelo
Mathews begins the proceedings for Sri Lanka. Tight over. Concedes just
three.
7.OO pm: West Indies win the toss, will bat first. Darren Sammy
says Fidel Edwards returns and Samuel Badree goes out, while for Sri
Lanka young injured offspinner Akila Dananjaya misses out and Rangana
Herath comes in. Here are the teams.
West Indies: Johnson Charles, Chris Gayle, Marlon
Samuels, Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo, Darren Sammy(c), Andre Russell,
Denesh Ramdin(w), Sunil Narine, Ravi Rampaul, Fidel Edwards
Sri Lanka: Mahela Jayawardene(c), Tillakaratne
Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara(w), Jeevan Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Thisara
Perera, Lahiru Thirimanne, Nuwan Kulasekara, Rangana Herath, Lasith
Malinga, Ajantha Mendis
6.45 pm: Hello and welcome to the World T20 Super 8 tie between
Sri Lanka and West Indies at Pallekele. West Indies and Sri Lanka both
won their first matches in Group 1, against England and New Zealand
respectively. A victory today for either team will push their case for a
semifinal berth not a little. Stay tuned, we'll soon be back with the
toss.