Friday 26 / April / 2024
St John's: Kieron Pollard's six 6s in an over stole the show as West Indies registered a comprehensive four-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the first T20I of the three-match series on Thursday here at the Coolidge Cricket Ground.
With this win, the hosts have gained a 1-0 lead in the series. Both the teams would now lock horns in the second T20I, beginning Friday. Chasing 132, the hosts got off to a blazing start as the openers Evin Lewis and Lendl Simmons put on 52 runs in the very first three overs. However, Sri Lanka staged an emphatic comeback as spinner Akila Dananjaya took a hat-trick in the fourth over to send back Lewis (28), Chris Gayle (0), and Nicholas Pooran (0).
Simmons also departed soon after and West Indies was reduced to 62/4 in the fifth over. However, skipper Pollard provided real entertainment in the sixth over as he dispatched Dananjaya for six 6s in over and the hosts' score read 98/4 after the conclusion of the sixth over.
Pollard departed after playing a knock of 38 off just 11 balls, but in the end, Jason Holder (29) and Dwayne Bravo (4) guided Windies to a four-wicket win with 41 balls to spare.
Earlier, a spirited bowling performance by the hosts helped them restrict Sri Lanka to 131/9 in the allotted twenty overs.
Niroshan Dickwella (33) and Pathum Nissanka (39) were the only Sri Lanka batters to get a score above 30+ and the visitors were hampered by not many batsmen getting in and taking the scoreboard forward.
Every Windies bowler deployed by Pollard got among the wickets and Obed McCoy returned with the figures of 2-25 from his four overs.
Brief Scores: Sri Lanka 131/9 (Pathum Nissanka 39, Niroshan Dickwella 33, Obed McCoy 2-25); West Indies 134/6 (Kieron Pollard 38, Jason Holder 29*, Akila Dananjaya 3-62).
