Gritty Windies end Sri Lanka’s winning start

INTERNATIONAL TRIANGULAR SERIES ROUND-UP

TWO games in and it’s won one, lost one for Sri Lanka with a comprehensive victory over Zimbabwe followed up by a defeat to the West Indies.

Dhananjaya de Silva starred in the opening win with an unbeaten 78 after hosts Zimbabwe were bowled out for 154. That was in part due to Asela Garunaratne’s 3-21 while Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal and Nuwan Kulasekara all took two wickets each.

De Silva’s knock took just 75 balls as Sri Lanka chased down the modest total with over half the innings to spare.

When facing the West Indies, Sri Lanka’s bowling fired again, dismissing their opponents for 227.Wickets were shared around again with Pradeep, Lakmal and Kulasekara all picking up two again.

For the Windies, there were many batsmen making starts but Jonathan Carter’s 54 was the top score. Debutants Shai Hope and Rovman Powell also impressed making 47 and 44 respectively.

And while the 227 looked modest, especially considering the batting power shown by Sri Lanka two days previously, Sri Lanka never got close.

They were 16-3 after West Indies’ captain Jason Holder claimed two early wickets with Shannon Gabriel finishing with 3-31 as Sri Lanka were all out for 165 in the 44th over. Another debutant also impressed with Ashley Nurse picking up 3-46.

Holder said:“We probably fell short of our batting target, but we bowled well. I thought we were outstanding in the field.

“It’s good to win, and hopefully we can start turning things around.There are still areas to work on so it’s important we keep improving.

“They’re three quality players [the debutants], I just backed them and they did well.”