Sri Lankan tiger crushed West Indies by 57 runs in a lop-sided semifinal to set up a summit clash with Pakistan in the final of the Twenty20 World Cup at Lord's on Sunday. Tillakaratne Dilshan hit a sublime unbeaten 96 to help the Lankans overcome a mid-innings collapse and post 158 for five. And when they returned to defend the total, Angelo Mathews sent down a sensational first over, claiming three crucial wickets, and West Indies could never really recover from the setbacks. Chris Gayle (63 not out off 50 balls) waged a lonely battle but none of his teammates could manage double digit score as West Indies eventually folded for 101 in 17.4 overs.
Opening the attack for Sri Lanka, Mathews emerged as the man with the golden arm with every second ball of his first over managing a deflection before crashing into the stumps. Xavier Marshall's tentative bottom edge brought his peril, Lendl Simmons lost his leg stump after the ball had clipped his thigh pad and Dwayne Bravo became the third scoreless batsman, caught in two minds whether to play or leave before dragging it onto his stumps. The long and the short of it was that West Indies had to pay with three top order wickets for their first run. Now Srilanka will meet Pakistan in final, that will be played at lords on Sunday.
Opening the attack for Sri Lanka, Mathews emerged as the man with the golden arm with every second ball of his first over managing a deflection before crashing into the stumps. Xavier Marshall's tentative bottom edge brought his peril, Lendl Simmons lost his leg stump after the ball had clipped his thigh pad and Dwayne Bravo became the third scoreless batsman, caught in two minds whether to play or leave before dragging it onto his stumps. The long and the short of it was that West Indies had to pay with three top order wickets for their first run. Now Srilanka will meet Pakistan in final, that will be played at lords on Sunday.
0 comments:
Post a Comment