Led by Chamari Athapaththu’s career-best 4 for 29 Sri Lanka extended their winning run against West Indies to the T20Is as well, securing a four-wicket in Hambantota on Monday. After having restricted the visitors to 134 for 8, Sri Lanka overhauled the target with eight balls to spare.
Put in to bat, West Indies made a cautious start, with Hayley Mathews returning to the side and scoring a run-a-ball 30. In the company of the veteran Stafanie Taylor, she put on a 40-run stand for the opening wicket before the senior offspinning duo of Athapaththu and Inoshi Priyadharshani ripped through the middle order. The duo combined to bag seven wickets as West Indies slid to 93 for 6 in the 16th over. Alliyah Alleyne (22-ball 26) and Afy Fletcher (11-ball 14) added some valuable runs towards the end.
Athapaththu departed early in the run-chase but Vimshi Gunaratne and Harshitha Samarawickrama steadied the innings. Even as a flurry of wickets through the middle overs caused a bit of a flutter, Hasini Perera’s 14-ball 20 took Sri Lanka close to the target and Nilakshi de Silva ensured that the visitors didn’t get a sniff at their first victory on the tour.
Brief Scores: West Indies 134/8 in 20 overs (Hayley Mathews 30, Aaliyah Alleyne 26; Chamari Athapaththu 4-29, Inoshi Priyadarshani 3-28) lost to Sri Lanka 137/6 in 18.4 overs (Vimshi Gunaratne 35, Harshitha Samarawickrama 35; Afy Fletcher 2-29) by 4 wickets
