Upul Chandana came up with a brilliant all round performance to inflict on West Indies 'A' their first defeat of the tour of Sri Lanka.
Chandana held four catches, ran out one batsman, took a wicket for just 27 runs off 10 overs, and made the winning hit - a straight six off paceman Ottis Gibson for Sri Lanka 'A' to pull off a six-wicket victory over West Indies 'A' in the first unofficial one day international played at the Tyronne Fernando Stadium, Moratuwa yesterday.
LOWEST TOTAL
West Indies 'A' sent into bat by skipper Marvan Atapattu, were bundled out for their lowest total of the tour - 138 in 46.2 overs by an inspired fielding and bowling performance, which for once had the visitors rattled.
Sri Lanka 'A' knocked off the required runs in the 35th over after losing both openers for six apiece. Lanka de Silva was promoted to open the batting with Ruwin Peiris, after regular opener Dulip Samaraweera suffered an injured thumb while fielding.
Atapattu and Naveed Nawaz restored Sri Lanka's pride with a 99run third wicket stand off 91 balls. Atapattu made a attacking 51 off 89 balls with six fours. The tall left-hander, Nawaz, showing a burst of aggression towards the latter stages of his innings, scored 45 off 72 balls with five fours. He was psyched out by a provocative Cameron Cuffy, who had him caught behind playing a rather loose shot.
TOP SCORER
Top scorer for West Indies was their captain Roger Harper, who made a defiant 30 off 71 balls, having seen his side reduced to 77 for 6 by Wickremasinghe and Pushpakumara.
However, the big-hitting Philo Wallace produced the most entertaining innings, racing away to 28 off 25 balls with the aid of two sixes and two fours.
All five bowlers tried out by Atapattu obliged him with at least a wicket, but that would not have been possible had it not been for Chandana's brilliance on the field.
Despite the heavy overnight rain, the stadium which had under gone a Rs. three million face-lift from what it w as three years ago, play was able to commence at 10 a.m. with no reduction in the number of overs.
This was the first international match to the played here after the improvement to the ground and that it came through without any hiccups was a credit to its long-standing curator Marian Cooray.
The second match of the series starts on Friday at the Saravanamuttu Stadium.