| 12.4.2008
West Indies v Sri Lanka, 2nd ODI, Port-of-Spain
by
Will Luke
Rain
stopped play (30.3 overs) Sri Lanka 112 for 5 (Jayawardene
4*) v West Indies
Scorecard
West
Indies' bowlers took advantage of the moist and muggy conditions
in Trinidad, picking up three Sri Lankan wickets for seven
runs in a 13-ball spell in between two rain breaks. After
30.3 overs, Sri Lanka were 112 for 5 with the prospect of
further play diminishing by the minute.
After
the first rain interruption, Kumar Sangakkara and Kaushalya
Weeraratne showed a greater urgency at the crease, testing
West Indies' fielders with a number of daring singles, until
Chris Gayle brought himself onto bowl. Firing a full toss
down the leg-side, Sangakkara's eyes lit up but he could
only scoop it straight to short fine-leg. It was an impossibly
soft dismissal, though canny captaincy from Gayle.
On
15 Weeraratne sliced Darren Sammy straight into Dwayne Bravo's
midriff at point and, nine balls later, Gayle yorked Chamara
Silva for 2 to leave Sri Lanka tottering on 112 for 5. A
second, more fierce torrent of rain came flooding down,
and Sri Lanka's hopes of squaring the series were looking
positively soggy.
Rain
stopped play (24.1 overs) Sri Lanka 83 for 2 (Sangakkara
18*, Weeraratne 2*) v West Indies
Economical spells from Jerome Taylor and Daren Powell, benefiting
from overcast conditions in Trinidad, restricted Sri Lanka
to 83 for 2 shortly before the halfway point of the second
ODI. After losing the first one-dayer in thrilling fashion
off the final ball of the match, Sri Lanka are desperate
to bounce back.
Chris
Gayle won the toss and chose to make the most of muggy,
heavy conditions, and Taylor responded with a fine opening
spell of 1 for 10 from six overs. Bowling at a good pace,
he rarely strayed from an off-stump line and moved it off
the seam to trouble both Upul Tharanga and Mahela Udawatte.
Udawatte, who fell for a duck on debut two days ago, got
his international career off the mark with a neat tuck off
his hips through midwicket. There is a consensus of opinion
that Udawatte is a dead ringer - stylistically at any rate
- for Sanath Jayasuriya, and when he crashed Fidel Edwards
for four over point, the similarities were obvious. After
clouting another four in the same over, he fell to a superb
slower-ball from Taylor. Trying to launch him over point,
Sewnarine Chattergoon clung onto a sharp chance to his left.
Then
followed a steady partnership of 40 between Tharanga and
Kumar Sangakkara, though neither batsmen ever dominated.
Edwards consistently offered free hits with his usual Bombay
mix of the wide and wicked, but his replacement, Daren Powell
- drafted in for this match to bolster West Indies' bowling
- showed excellent control, conceding a stingy 21 from seven
overs. Powell had begun the day in embarrassing fashion,
letting through a thick edge at third man for a crowd-mocking
four, but he justified his position as the seventh best
ODI bowler in the world by consistently attacking the off
stump, and nearly bowled Sangakkara on 7 when he inside-edged
him perilously close to his off stump.
Sri
Lanka's 50 came from 84 balls and while Sangakkara struggled
to time the ball, Tharanga at least managed to nudge twos
through midwicket and guide wider deliveries past point.
A fierce slap over backward point broke the shackles, and
he reminded everyone of his class with a perfectly placed
cover drive off the disappointing Darren Sammy.
Dwayne
Bravo is made for these overcast conditions and beat Tharanga
with consecutive cutters - one away from the left-hander;
the other jagging back on him. A slower ball in the 20th
over completely foxed Tharanga's ambitious drive, the ball
falling short of mid-off, but he got his man two overs later
when the left-hander uppercut him to Taylor at third man.
He judged his leap high to his left to grasp onto a fine
catch, before the rain - which had threatened all morning
- forced the players off shortly before the halfway point.
Courtesy - cricinfo
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