As it happened | SLvWI: Sri Lanka defeat West Indies 23 runs

Sri Lanka defeated West Indies by 23 runs!

Sri Lanka defeated West Indies by 23 runs in the Match 39 of Cricket World Cup 2019 at Chester-le-Street on Monday. 

Despite Nicholas Pooran's century, Windies failed to achieve the set target. 

Having won the toss and elected to field first, the West Indies fast bowlers struggled with the new ball as Sri Lanka posted a massive 339-run target. 

Lankan openers Kusal Perera and Dimuth Karunaratne laid the foundations for a mammoth total. 

The pair added 93 runs at a brisk pace before captain Karunaratne (32) nicked a swinging delivery from Jason Holder to wicketkeeper Shai Hope.

Perera (64) soon followed his skipper to the pavilion after bringing up his 14th 50 before Fernando anchored the innings alongside Kusal Mendis.

Fernando, playing only his ninth one-dayer at the age of 21, finished with 104 off 103 balls including nine fours and two sixes, before he holed out to Sheldon Cottrell.

His partnership with Lahiru Thirimanne (45) ensured former champions Sri Lanka breached the 300-mark for the first time in the tournament as they chase only their third victory of the tournament.

49th Over

Malinga's final over. 

His bowling figure for this match has been magnificent, it is 10-0-55-3. 

In the last over, he have just 1 run and took a wicket also. 

48.3 | Wicket!

Oshane Thomas out...

Malinga to Thomas, lbw. The original decision was not out but Sri Lankan skipper reviewed it and the third umpire eventually gave out as the final call. 

He scored 1 run and next batsman is Shannon Gabriel. 

48th Over

Angelo Mathews comes into attack.

A very good over for Sri Lanka... as Mathews gave just 3 runs and took a crucial wicket of Nicholas Pooran. 

47.1 | Wicket!

Angelo Mathews has got a major breakthrough. 

He took Nicholas Pooran's wicket. 

Pooran scored 118 runs off 103 balls. 

Next batsman is Oshane Thomas. 

47th Over

Sri Lanka have crossed 300-run mark.

It's Isuru Udana's final over and his bowling figure for this game ends with 10-0-67-0. 

9 runs from this over. 

46th Over

Lasith Malinga comes back into attack. 

It's his penultimate over and 7 runs from this over. 

45th over

Isuru Udana's 9th over. 

10 runs from this over. 

44.1 | Wicket!

Fabian Allen out. He scored 51 runs. 

Isuru Udana to Allen and he ran out. 

He played a crucial innings in a very pressure situation. 

Next bast batsman is Sheldon Cottrell. 

44th Over

Kasun Rajitha's final over.

His bowling figure for this match is 10-0-76-1. 

11 runs from this over. 

43rd Over

Isuru Udana's 8th over. 

9 runs from the over. 

42nd Over

Kasun Rajitha comes back into attack. 

7 runs from the over. 

41st Over

Dhananjaya de Silva comes back into attack. 

11 runs from this over. 

1 sixer on the first ball and a boundary on the second last ball of the over. 

40th Over

Malinga's 8th over. 

10 runs from the over.

1 boundary on the first ball of the over from Fabian's bat. 

The score is 244/6. 

39th Over

Isuru Udana's 7th over. 

9 runs from this over. 

38th Over

Lasith Malinga's 7th over. 

12 runs from this over. 

37th Over

Isuru Udana's 6th over. 

6 runs from this over. 

36th Over

West Indies crossed 200-run mark but they are far away from their target. 

Malinga's 6th over, and 7 runs from this over. 

35th Over

Isuru Udana's 5th over. 

He gave 6 runs from this over and he took a wicket also. 

34.3 | Wicket!

Carlos Brathwaite run out. 

Brathwaite scored 8 runs off 15 balls. 

Next batsman is Fabian Allen. 

34th Over

Kasun Rajitha's 8th over. 

15 runs from this over. 

33rd Over

Dimuth Karunaratne's first over in this match.

7 runs from this over. 

1 beautiful sixer on the first balls of the over from Brathwaite's bat. 

32nd Over

Kasun Rajitha's 7th over. 

He gave 4 runs in this over. 

31st Over

Jeffrey Vandersay's 7th over.

9 runs from this over. 

28.2 | Wicket!

Jason Holder out. 

He scored 26 runs poff 26 balls. 

Jeffrey Vandersay to Holde, caught out by Jeevan Mendis. 

Next batsman is Carlos Brathwaite. 

After 25 overs

The score is 126/4. 

In last 5 overs, West Indies scored 35 runs without losing any wicket. 

17.5 | Wicket!

Shimron Hetmyer run out. 

This is something Windies definitely do not ant at this moment. 

Hetmyer is walking back to the pavilion after scoring 29 runs. 

Next batsman is Jason Holder. 

15.2 | Wicket!

Chris Gayle departed after scoring 35 runs off 48 balls.

Kasun Rajitha to Gayle, caught out by Jeffrey Vandersay.

Next batsman is Nicholas Pooran. 

After 5 overs

The score is 22/2. 

Sri Lanka are looking in complete control here in this game. 

Just 22 runs in the first 5 overs and Malinga took 2 crucial wickets also. 

4.6 | Wicket!

Shai Hope out...

Malinga to Hope, bowled.

He scored 5 runs off 11 balls. 

Next batsman is Shimron Hetmyer. 

2.2 | Wicket!

Sunil Ambris out.

Malinga struck to get Ambris' wicket. He scored 5 runs off 6 balls. 

Malinga to Ambris, caught out by Kusal Perera. 

Next batsman is Shai Hope. 

Chris Gayle and Sunil Ambris start the run chase and Sri Lanka's Lasith Malinga launched the bowling attack. 

Innings break:

Sri Lanka posted 338/6 against West Indies. 

47.2 | Wicket!

Avishka Fernando out.

Just after completing his century, he departed.

Sheldon Cottrell to Avishka, caught out by Fabian Allen. 

Avishka scored 104 off 103. 

Next batsman is Isuru Udana. 

39.1 | Wicket!

Angelo Mathews out after scoring 26 runs. 

Jason Holder to Mathews, bowled. 

Next batsman is Lahiru Thirimanne. 

31.1 | Wicket!

Kusal Mendis out after scoring 39 runs. 

Fabian Allen to Mendis, caught and bowled. 

Next batsman is Angelo Mathews. 

After 20 overs

West Indies have bounced back in the previous five overs as they managed to take two crucial wickets. 

In last 5 overs, Sri Lanka scored 22 runs and lost 2 wickets also. 

18.1 | Wicket!

Another breakthrough!

Kusal Perera run out...

Perera scored 64 runs off 51 balls. 

Next batsman is Kusal Mendis. 

15.2 | Wicket!

Dimuth Karunaratne departed after scoring 58 runs.

Jason Holder got the breakthrough. 

Holder to Karunaratne, caught out by Shai Hope. 

Next batsman is Avishka Fernando. 

After 15 overs

Sri Lanka are dominating in the game so far as they have piled up runs without of losing any wicket. 

In the previous 5 over, Sri Lanka scored 42 runs. 

Fifty up for Karunaratne!

Sri Lankan captain Karunaratne has completed his half-century.

It's his 3rd fifty of this World Cup. 

After five overs

The score is 28/0.

Sri Lanka got off to a stable start and trying to make most of the first powerplay. 

West Indies are looking for wickets to break this crucial partnership. 

Dimuth Karunaratne and Kusal Perera have started the innings and Sheldon Cottrell launched the bowling attack. 

Toss:

West Indies won the toss and opted to bowl first against Sri Lanka. 

Playing XI:

Sri Lanka: Dimuth Karunaratne(c), Kusal Perera(w), Avishka Fernando, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Lahiru Thirimanne, Dhananjaya de Silva, Isuru Udana, Jeffrey Vandersay, Kasun Rajitha, Lasith Malinga

West Indies: Chris Gayle, Sunil Ambris, Shai Hope(w), Nicholas Pooran, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder(c), Carlos Brathwaite, Fabian Allen, Shannon Gabriel, Sheldon Cottrell, Oshane Thomas

Head-to-head:

Both the teams have played a total of 56 one-day matches. Sri Lanka won 25 and West Indies won 28. 

Conditions:

In today's match, the chances of rain are minimal and clear skies are expected throughout the match. 

In previous Sri Lanka's match against South Africa, the Riverside Ground in Chester-le-Street produced a sluggish surface. 

Squads:

Sri Lanka: Dimuth Karunaratne (c), Avishka Fernando, Suranga Lakmal, Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews, Jeevan Mendis, Kusal Mendis (wk), Kusal Perera (wk), Thisara Perera, Dhananjaya de Silva, Milinda Siriwardana, Lahiru Thirimanne, Isuru Udana, Jeffrey Vandersay, Kasun Ranjitha

West Indies: Jason Holder (c), Chris Gayle, Kemar Roach, Darren Bravo, Sunil Ambris, Shai Hope, Sheldon Cottrell, Evin Lewis, Shannon Gabriel, Carlos Brathwaite, Ashley Nurse, Shimron Hetmyer, Fabian Allen, Oshane Thomas, Nicholas Pooran

Preview:

Mathematically still alive in the race for the semifinals, Sri Lanka will aim to give their best shot against West Indies, who have just pride to play for in their World Cup encounter. 

Sri Lanka's 20-run win over England had breathed life into their inconsistent campaign but a painful defeat against South Africa, in the very next game, hurt their semifinals chances. 

The 1996 champions, who are placed seventh on the points table with six points from seven matches, need to win their final two games, and hope for favourable outcomes in the England and Pakistan's next fixtures. 

In their nine-wicket loss to South Africa, their inconsistent batting came to the fore yet again and skipper Dimuth Karunaratne would look to improve on that aspect against a challenging West Indian bowling attack. 

With their batting unit misfiring more often than not, the onus to secure favourable results has always been put on the experienced bowling attack, led by veteran speedster Lasith Malinga. And with Nuwan Pradeep's exit (due to chickenpox), Sri Lanka will rely heavily on their bowling spearhead once again. 

Hello! And welcome to the Match 39 of the Cricket World Cup 2019 which is between Sri Lanka and West Indies at Chester-le-Street. 

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