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Chase, Hope steer Windies to victory

21 Feb 2020 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}      

 

 

By M. Shamil Amit

An unbeaten ton by Roston Chase and a fifty by Shai Hope steered West Indies to a comfortable seven-wicket win over the Sri Lanka Board President’s XI in the second warm up game played at the CMCC ground in Katunayake yesterday.


West Indies chasing a formidable target of 277 runs for victory reached to the mark in the 47th over.


The foundation for the Windies win was laid by Chase and Hope, who cracked a 102-ball knock of 85 inclusive of 11 boundaries, with the pair putting on 133-run stand for the third wicket.
This followed by Chase scoring 136 in 112 balls, with 16 boundaries, and striking another century partnership, an unbroken 109-run stand, with Sunil Ambris for the fourth-wicket.
Earlier in the day Sri Lanka Board President’s XI were made to struggle for their runs with the first seven overs yielding just 21 runs before skipper Lahiru Thirimanne was dismissed after scoring just four runs in 20 balls. 


Dinesh Chandimal underwent the same fate as he too was made to dig for his runs before being dismissed for five.


This followed with the host side losing two wickets for the addition of 27 runs as they slid to 74 for 4 in the 18th over. Asela Gunaratne along with Minod Bhanuka came to the rescue associating in a valuable 69-run partnership for the fifth wicket before being separated with the dismissal of Gunratne who made 47 runs.


Minod joined by Ramesh Mendis denied the Windies any success for a considerable period as the pair took the side past 200 before their 83-run partnership was broken when Bhanuka was.


Ramesh who made a 63 ball unbeaten knock of 64 which had five boundaries and two sixes added 30 runs in 14 balls with Vishwa Fernando for Sri Lanka Board President’s XI to end with a challenging score of 276 for 8.


The Windies will begin their official tour with the first of three ODI’ against Sri Lanka scheduled to be played at the SSC ground on February 22.


Sri Lanka Board President’s XI 276 for 8 in 50 overs (Minod Bhanuka 69, Asela Gunaratne 47, Pathum Nissanka 41, Ramesh Mendis 64 n.o.: Keemo Paul 2 for 45, Roston Chase 2 for 57)


West Indies 277 for 4 in 46.3 overs (Roston Chase 136, Shai Hope 85, Sunil Ambris 34 n.o.: Vishwa Fernando 2 for 56)


by Kushan Pathiraja