West Indies 4-209 (Chris Gayle 109, Johnson Charles 29, Rangana Herath 1-37) beat Sri Lanka 208 (Angelo Mathews 55*, Mahela Jayawardene 52, Sunil Narine 4-40, Ravi Rampaul 3-38) by six wickets.
Sunil Narine and Ravi Rampaul restricted Sri Lanka to a nominal score and a stormy knock from Chris Gayle put West Indies on top as they won the game easily.
Sri Lanka was bowled out for 208 runs in 48.3 overs whereas West Indies rushed to the target by smashing 209 with 12.1 overs to spare.
Chris Gayle (West Indies) was declared ‘Player of the match’ for his heroic innings of 109 from 100 mere balls.
The first match of the Tri-Nation Series was played on Friday, June 28, 2013, at Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica.
Earlier, Dwayne Bravo won the toss for the Windies and put the Islanders in to bat. Upul Tharanga and Mahela Jayawardene opened the innings in an aggressive mode by scoring 39 runs in seven overs with 2 fours from the first and 5 from the latter. The first wicket was lost at 62 when Tharanga lost his wicket for 25 and was replaced by Kumar Sangakkara. Mahela Jayawardene attained his 70th ODI fifty with a four but lost his wicket for 52 off even balls with 7 fours. Dinesh Chandimal walked in next as Sangakkara was caught by Kieron Pollard off Sunil Narine for 17.
The skipper of the Lankan Lions, Angelo Mathews, took guards next and was dropped at seven runs by Chris Gayle at slip off Kemar Roach. Chandimal hit the first six of the innings in the 28th over and became the next victim at 140 for 21 as the rival bowlers took over. Mathews kept on fighting at his end whereas the wickets were falling at regular intervals at the other side. Angelo Mathews remained unbeaten for 55 off 77 deliveries with 5 fours as the innings of the visitors was squeezed for 208 with 9 balls still available.
Sunil Narine was the main destroyer with four wickets, Ravi Rampaul grabbed three, Dwayne Bravo held two whereas Marlon Samuel claimed one wicket.
Chris Gayle and Johnson Charles started off slowly by getting 16 runs in the first five overs. Charles was dropped at two runs in the next over as Gayle came into his own by hitting 2 lofty sixes and even fours in the coming overs. The latter kept on cruising and dispatched his half century on the 47th ball with a four whereas Charles was still at 8 after utilising 42 deliveries. The first hundred of the innings was posted on board in the 20th over and Johnson Charles became the first victim at 115 in the following over for 29.
Darren Bravo joined in next with Gayle who continued with his aggressive innings and added 12 runs in the 23rd over with 1 six and 1 four. Chris Gayle blasted his 21st ODI century in the 28th over as Bravo was carrying on compiling runs at his end. Gayle was caught by Dinesh Chandimal at forward square leg off Jeevan Mendis for 109 from 100 comprising 7 cracking sixes and 9 fours. Darren Bravo was run out for 27 as the target was achieved by scoring 209 after losing four wickets in 37.5 overs.
Nuwan Kulasekara, Ajantha Mendis and Rangana Herath were the only wicket takers with one each.
West Indies clinched the match with a big margin of six wickets and got five valuable points.
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