The 39th match of the ICC World Cup 2019 saw Sri Lanka take on West Indies at the Chester-Le-Street ground. Both the teams are out of the race for the semifinals but played for pride, which showed in the performance put on by them.
West Indies won the toss and chose to field first, a decision that backfired for them. Avishka Fernando hit 104, while Kusal Perera made 64 to lay a good platform for the Lankan hitter to tee off and they did just that, Mathews (26), Kusal Mendis (39) and Thirimanne (45*) tore into the West Indies bowlers to help Sri Lanka put on 338/6 in 50 overs. Jason Holder was the best bowler from West Indies side, picking two wickets for 59 runs.
In reply, Malinga removed Ambris and Hope for 5 runs each, while Rajitha got rid of Chris Gayle for 35. Shimron Hetmyer made 29 and Nicholas Pooran took the responsibility of taking his side to the win. He got help from Holder (29) and Fabien Allen (51), as he scored his first ODI century in the process. The match got extremely close in the last few overs.
However, Sri Lanka closed the game out when Mathews got Nicholas Pooran for 118 runs (11 fours and 4 sixes) and managed to register a 23-run win. Lasith Malinga picked 3/55 and was the pick of Lankan bowlers.
Cricket fraternity showered Avishka Fernando and Sri Lanka with applauds after this terrific win over the West Indies.
Here are some tweets:
