Samuel Badree produced a fantastic spell of bowling and the rest of his colleagues backed him up with a professional performance as the West Indies romped to a crushing win over their nemesis Sri Lanka in a World T20 game here on Sunday.
Bengalureans came out in numbers to watch a run-fest and their favourite batsman Chris Gayle smack some sixes. None of that materialised on a warm evening but they at least got a glimpse of another West Indian who will be wearing the Royal Challengers Bangalore colours this Indian Premier League.
Badree, 35 years old but showing ageing legs is no handicap in the game’s shortest format like many of his contemporaries, ripped the heart of the Sri Lankan batting with a dream four-over spell of 3/12. Woefully out of form and unable to counter some disciplined bowling from the West Indies, the Sri Lankans eventually ended their innings for a way below-par 122/9.
The target was not going to cause much problem for the explosive West Indies batting line-up and while they did huff and puff against a determined Sri Lankans, they eventually coasted home in 18.2 overs and seven wickets to spare.
Opening the batting with Johnson Charles after the talismanic Gayle twitched his left hamstring while fielding, Andre Fletcher — coming into the match for Jerome Taylor — made the most of the chance with a brilliant 84 not out (64b, 6x4, 5x6).
Despite his three of his parters throwing away their wickets after struggling to read spinners Jeffrey Vandersay and Milinda Siriwardana, Fletcher kept a cool head, mixing aggression with caution to make sure the Windies posted their second win and take a huge step towards sealing a semifinal berth.
The Sri Lankans, who hold an otherwise impeccable record against West Indies, had only themselves to blame for the crushing defeat that has left their semifinal hopes on the very edge. They made a good start with Tillakaratne Dilshan greeting pacer Andre Russell with a hooked six and flicked four, scoring 13 runs in the opening over.
However, things started to fall apart for them from the fourth over onwards. Dilshan attempted a wild swing at a Carlos Brathwaite delivery drifting onto his pads and missed it completely. The Windies appealed for a leg before vociferously and umpire Johan Cloete raised his finger to leave Dilshan disappointed as hawk-eye, moments later, clearly showed the ball missing the leg stump by a mile.
Dinesh Chandimal, struggling to get quick runs amidst some tight bowling, then departed after running himself out for a non existent single. Badree, mixing his leg-spinners and googlies to have the Sri Lankans in a bind, then put the Windies in command with three strikes in two overs.
He first removed Lahiru Thirimanne with a fine pitched-up ball, out-foxed an adventurous Chamara Kapugedera and then bamboozled a clueless Milinda Siriwardana to leave the Sri Lankans tottering at 49/5.
The Lankans recovered somewhat through a 44-run partnership between Angelo Mathews and Thisara Perera but with neither able to get the big hits, they settled for a score that barely tested the Windies.
score card
SRI LANKA
Chandimal (run out) 16
(18b, 1x4, 1x6)
Dilshan lbw Brathwaite 12
(10b, 1x4, 1x6)
Thirimanne c Fletcher b Badree 5
(7b, 1x4)
Kapugedera st Ramdin b Badree 6
(10b, 1x4)
Mathews c Ramadin b Bravo 20
(32b)
Siriwardana c Gayle b Badree 0
(3b)
Perera c Russell b Bravo 40
(29b, 5x4, 1x6)
Kulasekara b Russell 7
(8b)
Herath (run out) 3
(3b)
Vandersay (not out) 0
(1b)
Chameera (not out) 0
(0b)
Extras: (LB-7, W-5, NB-1) 13
Total (for 9 wkts, 20 overs) 122
Fall of wickets: 1-20 (Dilshan), 2-32 (Chandimal), 3-41 (Thirimanne), 4-47 (Kapugedera), 5-47 (Siriwardana), 6-91 (Mathews), 7-116 (Kulasekara), 8-121 (Herath), 9-121 (Perera).
Bowling: Russell 4-0-43-1, Badree 4-0-12-3, Benn 4-013-0, Brathwaite 4-0-36-1 (NB-1, W-2), Bravo 4-0-20-2.
WEST INDIES
Fletcher (not out) 84
(64b, 6x4, 5x6)
Charles b Vandersay 10
(13b, 1x4)
Samuels st Chandimal b Siriwardana 3
(12b)
Ramdin b Siriwardana 5
(13b)
Russell (not out) 20
(8b, 3x4, 1x6)
Extras (W-5) 5
Total (for 3 wkts, 18.2 overs) 127
Fall of wickets: 1-39 (Charles), 2-54 (Samuels), 3-72 (Ramdin)
Bowling: Mathews 1-0-13-0, Herath 4-0-27-0, Kulasekara 2-0-17-0 (W-1), Vandersay 4-1-11-1, Siriwardana 4-0-33-2, Chameera 3-0-15-0 (W-2), Perera 0.2-0-11-0.
