Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis put on 136 together as Sri Lanka posted 303 for 7 and then bowled West Indies out for 262 to take the first ODI at Sabina Park.
West Indies won the toss on Wednesday, looked at a Sabina Park surface carrying a green tinge, and asked Sri Lanka to bat. For a while the decision held up. Then Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis got together, added 136, and the day game slipped away from the hosts.
Nissanka made 79, all calm accumulation at one end. Kusal was the aggressor. He went after Gudakesh Motie almost as soon as he arrived, clearing the straight boundary four times in the space of three overs on his way to 72.
The platform could have been wasted. It wasn’t. Janith Liyanage finished unbeaten on 44 from 29 balls, and his late hitting dragged Sri Lanka from a good total to an imposing one: 303 for 7. Roston Chase and Matthew Forde took two wickets each but West Indies never managed a sustained squeeze.
Shai Hope did what Shai Hope does in a chase. The captain made 56 from 66 balls and kept West Indies roughly in touch with the rate. Around him, though, wickets kept falling. Dushmantha Chameera was the wrecking ball with 4 for 67, while Maheesh Theekshana conceded just 26 runs from his ten overs and picked up two as the home batters repeatedly failed to read him.
West Indies were bowled out for 262 with four balls of the innings unused. A 41-run defeat, and a 1-0 deficit in a three-match series, is not how they wanted to start a home summer.
The second ODI is on Saturday, June 6, at the same ground. West Indies need a response. Sri Lanka, with their top order in this kind of touch, will fancy wrapping the series up early.
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