Sri Lanka vs West Indies

Sri Lanka vs West Indies 16th T20 Match, Kensington Oval, Bridgetown

Sri Lanka vs West Indies 16th T20 Match, Kensington Oval, Bridgetown On May 7, 2010 from 17:30 GMT | 23:00 IST Onwards

Sri Lanka takes on hosts West Indies in the first encounter for both the teams in the Super Eight stage of the Twenty20 World Cup, knowing full well that a win on Friday at the Kensington Oval will allow one of the teams to put in a foot and hold the semi-final door ajar.

For Lankans, the batting has been a one-man show with Mahela Jayawardene firing on all cylinders. A solid 81 against New Zealand was not enough as the Black Caps chased the Sri Lankan total in the final over. In the second match he showed true class and score a fabulous century. Rain almost played spoilsport but the Lankans finally won by 14 runs according to the Duckworth-Lewis method.

The likes of Kumar Sangakkara, Tilakratane Dilshan have failed so far and no other batsman has been able to provide good support to Jayawardene. Angelo Matthews, Sanath Jayasuriya and Chamara Kapugedera make the Sri Lankan middle order look very strong, but they will have to come good and play some crucial knocks for the team in the Super Eight stage.Sri Lanka’s bowling received a blow with Muttiah Muralitharan being ruled out due to a groin injury. They haven’t given up on Murali, but he will definitely not play in Friday’s game.

The Windies made it easily to the Super Eight stage with two comfortable wins in the league stage. The match against England, where they scored 191, could have gone down to the wire if the rain had not intervened and reduced the game to a five-over affair during the chase. Chris Gayle’s cameo against England must have come as a good news for the Windies as the skipper had been out of form lately. A big innings is what is required from the skipper’s blade to push the momentum. So far, none of the batsmen in the Windies batting order has come to the party. Darren Sammy was their man against Ireland with his lusty hitting in the death overs. But the likes of Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan have failed to deliver so far despite their class.

Bowling has been bit inconsistent for the Windies. Sulieman Benn and Nikita Miller, however, bowled well against England and were economical in comparison to the other bowlers. Darren Sammy has been pick of the bowler for the Windies and he will surely be the key man for them in the remaining of the tournament.