Tri-Nation Series: Sri Lanka weather the storm to beat West Indies

Sangakkara’s 90 helps side register 39-run victory in rain-affected match.

PORT OF SPAIN: Sri Lanka weathered a middle-order revival by the West Indies and held on for a 39-run victory on the Duckworth/Lewis (D/L) Scoring Method in a rain-affected fifth match of the Tri-Nation Series at Queen’s Park Oval.

Kumar Sangakkara crafted a superb, unbeaten 90 to lift the visitors to a competitive 219 for eight in a match forced into the reserve day because of the elements and reduced to 41 overs-per-side.

Half-centuries by Darren Bravo (70) and Lendl Simmons (67) then threatened to take the home team to a revised target of 230 before a sense of haste in the midst of light rain and the cooler heads of the Sri Lankans saw the West Indies restricted to 190 for nine in reply.

Sangakkara claimed the man-of-the-match award for his excellent innings.

“If you hang in there, it becomes much easier to score runs on a pitch like this,” said Sangakkara.

“When batting first, it’s better to absorb the pressure and then look to accelerate later. The support from the other batsmen was really important.”

Published in The Express Tribune, July 10^th, 2013.

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