Quick Flicks: A Facile win for Lanka against the West Indies

Electing to bat first, Sammy had the picture of last game in his mind where Gayle and company plundered the runs against the English bowling and came out victorious. But today, it was a different ball game altogether. It was evident that Gayle’s early exit took its toll on the team which relies heavily on his batting at the top of the order. The openers failed to give a solid platform this time; both the openers were dismissed cheaply. Though Samuels and Bravo scored 50 and 40 respectively, both of them went in quick succession. The Lankans kept a check on the run rate with clever bowling and restricted the West Indians to a meagre 129. The Lankan batsmen cruised to 130 runs without any trouble and won the battle by nine wickets with twenty eight balls to spare.

Given the stature of both the teams, battle turned out to be completely lopsided in favour of Sri Lanka. Here are the quick flicks of the match:

1) Edwards over Badree:

When your bowling attack does not comprise of class bowlers, what helps is to bring together an attack which suits the pitch conditions. With repeated use of the pitches, they have worn out a bit and playing a lone specialist spinner is a foolhardy action. Ignoring Badree’s talent and his inexpensive four over spell in last match for Fidel Edwards T20 experience, Sammy made a mistake. Edwards’ scorecard for this match, two overs bowled for an economy of 12.00, was rather unimpressive.

2) Gayle caved in:

From the very first ball, Sri Lanka looked like weaving a web to trap Chris Gayle. They choked Gayle by bowling a disciplined line. In sheer desperation to break-free, Gayle chased a considerably wide delivery from Nuwan Kulasekara and was caught behind. Sangakara took a diving catch. “This could make a huge difference” exclaimed Tony Greig and indeed it did.

3) Jeevan does the Gayle jig:

A turning short pitched delivery was lofted and was caught at long-on by Dilshan, it was the danger man Bravo batting on forty, a huge wicket and the bowler Jeevan Mendis could not help but release his ecstasy aping Gayle’s dance of celebration.

4) 1000 runs for stunning Sanga:

Playing in his thirty eighth T20 international, Sangakkara completed one thousand runs, by hitting Narine for a four. He partnered his skipper to take Sri Lanka to victory. He plays with equal aplomb in all formats of the game.

5) All-round Sri Lanka:

From the very first ball Lanka’s grit and determination was visible to one and all. No loose stuff from bowlers and no fielding lapses from the fielders ensured that the target remained small and within their reach. The experienced lads, Jayawardene and Sangakkara, simply dominated the West Indian bowlers. The target was reached in 15.2 overs, giving Lanka a quantum jump in the net run rate, which might come into reckoning if more than two teams ended with winning equal number of games. Lanka is leading the Group 1 table being the only team with a positive NRR of +1.029.

6) Captain Smart:

Darren Sammy was hardly visible today. It requires an effort to stand tall and lead from the front. Sammy has not done this as yet in the matches the West Indies has played. This was in stark contrast to his counterpart Mahela Jayawardene, who again like he did in the last match, rose to the challenge and scored 65 off 45 balls, his sixth fifty plus score in T20 internationals. Unanimously, today’s “captain smart” was the Lankan skipper who led his team to victory with his subtle bowling changes and his scintillating batting.