ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifiers: West Indies vs Sri Lanka Match Preview, ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifiers

9th ODI • Harare Sports Club • Harare

West Indies

243 (48.1)

Sri Lanka

244/2 (44.2)

SL won by 8 wickets

Info

Fantasy

Live

Scorecard

Stats

Playing XI

Table

Date & Time

07 Jul, 12:30 PM IST

Venue

Harare Sports Club

Match

9th ODI,

ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifiers

Points Table

Schedule

Stats

Umpires

Langton Rusere(Zimbabwe), Wayne Knights(New Zealand), Alex Wharf(England, TV)

Referee

Emmanuel Dube(Zimbabwe)

Toss

Sri Lanka elected to bowl

Pitch Report

PitchFast & Bounce

Pace BowlingPace & Bounce

Batting ConditionHigh Scoring

Spin BowlingSlow Spin

1st Innings

236Avg Runs

8Avg Wkts

2nd Innings

193Avg Runs

6Avg Wkts

Playing XILineups Out

Points Table

Head To Head (Last 10 Matches)

5- 4

Team Form (Recent 5 Matches, Latest First)

Sri Lanka

West Indies

Players to Watch

Top Batters

Shai Hope

WI . WK

340 Runs

6 Matches

Nicholas Pooran

WI . WK

336 Runs

6 Matches

Pathum Nissanka

SL . BAT

290 Runs

6 Matches

Top Bowlers

Maheesh Theekshana

SL . BOWL

13 Wkts

6 Matches

Akeal Hosein

WI . BOWL

7 Wkts

6 Matches

Kyle Mayers

WI . ALL

6 Wkts

5 Matches

1 1 0 0 1 1

Over 42

Runs: 4

1 0 1 0 1 0

Over 43

Runs: 3

1 1 3 0 0 1

Over 44

Runs: 6

2 1

Over 45

Runs: 3

All Overs

Player of the Match Maheesh Theekshana

4/34

Commentary

Thanks a lot for joining us today in this rather one-sided game which was won by Sri Lanka by a massive margin of eight wickets. They now take on the Netherlands in the final of this tournament on Sunday at the same venue. This is Mohul Bhowmick signing off on behalf of Bidipto Datta and Rudransh Khurana. Hope you enjoyed it. Until next time, ciao!

Dasun Shanaka (Sri Lanka captain): We played for the first time in Harare today. This surface was better for batting than the pitch in Bulawayo. There was not a lot in it for the seamers. Theekshana has been consistent in this tournament. I hope he carries this form further into his career. We need to take the catches we dropped today - there are no excuses at all. I keep telling my players to remain calm no matter what happens on the field. We are very positive and look forward to the final. I am very confident of us doing well.

Shai Hope (West Indies captain): (First thoughts) Not enough runs on the board to be honest, but, batting first over here was not going to be easy here. However, we needed more runs on the board. (On Keacy Carty) Keacy Carty is a fine player! He is young and can only improve but has the makings of being a really good player. (On the bowling of the West Indies) I thought our bowlers tried everything they could but the conditions got a lot easier to bat on later on. (On what to take away from this tournament) We have to let this tournament behind us now. Look forward and look to climb up the ladder.

Maheesh Theekshana has been adjudged the Player of the Match! Here is what he has to say.

Maheesh Theekshana: (On leading the spin attack in absence of Wanindu Hasaranga) I knew that I had to lead the spin attack today, but, the two new spinners backed me up pretty well. (On his bowling plans) With the new ball, my idea was to keep it straight and not give the batters any freebies. With the older ball there wasn't much help though as the wicket was pretty flat. (On whether he wanted that fifth wicket badly) I was a bit nervous to get my fifth but unfortunately, that could not happen today.

Sri Lanka beat the West Indies by 8 wickets!

Pathum Nissanka 104 (113) | Maheesh Theekshana 4/34
Keacy Carty 87 (96) | Dushan Hemantha 2/49

Sri Lanka made easy work of the target set by the West Indies here. Responsible for that were their opening duo of Pathum Nissanka and Dimuth Karunaratne. Nissanka played an extremely stroke-filled knock to get to his second consecutive century of the tournament, following on from the unbeaten 101 he scored against Zimbabwe a few days ago.

Karunaratne too seemed like going on to get to his century, but he lost his concentration for a bit, played a loose shot and ended up losing his wicket by being struck plumb in front off left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein. The West Indies tried their best to restrict the Lankans to a low total, but to be honest, their bowling was lacklustre today.

They just did not have the quality to challenge the batters of Sri Lanka. With a lot of their players having travelled back home to prepare for the multi-format series against India starting in five days' time, the West Indies' bowling attack appeared to be quite undercooked today.

Sri Lanka will be extremely pleased with their batting performance, although they will feel that they could have done a lot better with the ball in hand, and not given away close to 90 runs for the last two wickets.

Had they been a little more tight with their bowling after the fall of the eighth wicket, they could have got the West Indies out for less than 180. However, Shanaka will be very pleased with his team's showing and hope to continue the momentum against the Netherlands in the final of this tournament on Sunday.

That should be that! Mendis and Samarawickrama do the job for Sri Lanka. They head into the final against the Netherlands on Sunday with a hundred percent win record in this tournament!

44.2 Romario Shepherd to Kusal Mendis, SRI LANKA WIN WITH OVER FIVE OVERS TO SPARE! Good length ball around off-stump. Glided down to third man off the back foot for an easy single and with that, Sri Lanka keep their unbeaten run going in this tournament!

Scores are level now! Just one run needed to win.

44.1 Romario Shepherd to Kusal Mendis, short outside off-stump from over the wicket. Punched down to deep cover point off the back foot for couple of runs. Scores are level.

Sri Lanka should get there in this over. They need just three runs to win this game.

overs

241 /2 score

runs

Kusal Mendis *

31 (41)

Sadeera Samarawickrama

17 (18)

Roston Chase

0 /45

43.6 Roston Chase to Kusal Mendis, short around off-stump. Guided down to short third man off the back foot for a single but Mendis was slow in getting to the non-striker's end there. A direct hit could have made matters interesting!

43.5 Roston Chase to Kusal Mendis, full on middle-and-leg. Pushed off the front foot to the right of the bowler, no run again.

43.4 Roston Chase to Kusal Mendis, full on middle-stump. Worked to short mid-wicket off the front foot, no run.

Carty gives chase but he cannot keep it to less than three. In the end, he saves just one run.

43.3 Roston Chase to Sadeera Samarawickrama, slightly short around off-stump. Late cut to the left of deep point off the back foot for three runs this time.

43.2 Roston Chase to Kusal Mendis, full on off-and-middle. Check driven away to the right of Chase for a single. Well, he misfielded actually! That was sloppy.

43.1 Roston Chase to Sadeera Samarawickrama, full on off-stump. Driven down to the left of short mid-wicket off the front foot for a single.

Mendis and Samarawickrama appear very calm and composed. It appears, by his reposed state, that Hope wants this to get over as quickly as possible.

overs

235 /2 score