Pathum Nissanka hit the third ODI century of his career as Sri Lanka cruised to an eight-wicket victory over West Indies.
Sri Lanka beat the West Indies by eight wickets to prepare for the 2023 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifying Final against the Netherlands. Opening hitters Pathum Nissanka (104) and Dimus Karnaratne (83) did most of the damage, and Keithy Carty (87) trailed with 243 after a respectable goal for the Windies . The win keeps Sri Lanka unbeaten against Zimbabwe and faces the final hurdle to qualifying in the Netherlands.
Sri Lanka wins in opener
Pathum Nissanka enjoyed his third career ODI as Sri Lanka secured an eight-wicket victory over the West Indies. Dimus Karnalatne from the West Indies stole the game and Nissanka scored 104 runs on 113 pitches in the 190-run opening stand.
Kusal Mendis (34) and Sadeera Samarawickrama (17) did the rest to easily reach their target of 244, for which Windies had Keacy Carty (87) to thank after Maheesh Theekshana (4/34) had ripped through much of their top order.
West Indies had started strongly, racing to 31 from their first four overs before Theekshana conceded just two from his first over and cleaned up Brandon King (10) in his second. The spinner struck again in his third, Shamarh Brooks (2) nicking behind before captain Shai Hope (2) became his third victim from his fourth over, pinned leg before.
Opener Johnson Charles (39) was next back to the hutch an over later, trapped leg before by Matheesha Pathirana to leave Windies floundering on 62 for four. But Carty and Nicholas Pooran (14) led the fightback, as the pair stopped the flurry of wickets until Dushan Hemantha accounted for Pooran to further drag West Indies into the mire at 81 for five.
After nine missed catches, Carty kept the scoreboard moving as Sahan Arachige bowled Kyle Mayers (18) and Hemantha Roston Chase (1) made an early leg interception. When, pulled the team to 7-123. Later contributions from Romario Shepard, 26, and Kevin Sinclair, 25, brought the Windies closer to 250, but Carty fell with 12 pitches to go and the team missed out on 243 altogether. .
Disappointed by letting the West Indies reach nearly 250, Sri Lanka quickly started catching up and after reaching 50 in 9 overs Nissanka scored the 10th ODI half in 16 overs with the same number of balls. reached the century. Opening partner Karunaratne soon followed suit, increasing his 50 points to four as Sri Lanka sprinted towards the total.
The Windies tried desperately to break the partnership while rotating six bowlers, but the pair proved unbreakable when they hit 150 in the 28th. With just under 20 overs to go, Nissanka led the Century and was eventually bowled by Kevin Sinclair to retire to mid-wicket.
However, the loss of the first wicket didn’t stop the streak, and Mendis took over the scoring relay, scoring four to make it 200 before Karunaratne was first caught on the leg by Akeal Hossein.
