Sri Lanka may have dominated the West Indies in the first two ODIs but the beleaguered West Indies came back hammering the cricket ball in sheer butchery to win the third and final match of the three match series at the Pallekele Cricket Stadium yesterday.
Set with what looked like a mountain to climb to reach a 195 target in 23 overs after rain played its part, West Indies opener Evin Lewis stayed until the end to reach a hundred and finish the match off with a straight six bringing up his century in only 61 balls with four sixes and nine fours. Lewis found the best partner he could have wished for in the in-form Sherfane Rutherford who in the process hit his third successive half century in 26 balls with four fours and three sixes as the two shared in match-winning unbroken 88-run alliance for the third wicket in just 7.3 overs as tne Sri Lankans were sent on a leather hunt that terminated the home team’s hopes of a clean-sweep.
Overall the match was a spoiler more against the West Indies who left Sri Lanka at 81 for 1 in 17.2 overs when rain set in and conceded a total of 156 for 3 with the match reduced to 23 overs a side.
On the Duckworth and Lewis calculations Sri Lanka’s total was swelled up to 194 the target the West Indies faced under the rain-related rules.
Earlier Sri Lanka openers Avishka Fernando and Pathun Nissanka made a cautious start putting on 81 runs in 17.1 overs after the West Indies won the toss and decided to bat first.
On resumption after more than five hours, new batsman Kusal Mendis threw his bat at everything with Sri Lanka left with just 5.4 overs as he raced to 56 in only 22 balls with nine fours and a six helped by some sloppy fielding in which the West Indies dropped as many as four catches.