Explosive Evin Lewis leads West Indies to consolation win over Sri Lanka in 3rd ODI

The West Indies vs. Sri Lanka third ODI was anything but a dead rubber. The Caribbeans recorded their first victory in the first Twenty20 International of the tour, which was the final match of the white-ball tour to the island nation.

When it came to West Indies fielding, Sri Lanka’s first ten overs of the innings were exceptionally unusual. Two catches of Pathum Nissanka and one of Avishka Fernando were dropped. By then, they had each added 47. But after giving Roston Chase a simple return catch on the opening delivery of the 18th over, Avishka left. At the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, the contest swayed at that point because of a large five-hour break caused by the rain.

Due to the delay, the match was shortened to 23 overs per side. At this point, the hosts, and Kusal Mendis in particular, made the decision to step it up. The tone for the remainder of the innings was established by four straight boundaries when play restarted. Mendis, interestingly, was dropped twice on his way to his undefeated knock of 56 off 22 balls, which included nine fours and the lone six. In what appeared to be a competitive total on the board at the end of the innings, the Lankans achieved 156 for the loss of three wickets.

To save anything, the West Indies had to modify their total to 195, which, on the surface, seemed excessive. During the sixth over of the run-chase, Brandon King was the first to leave. The two overs that Wanindu Hasaranga bowled gave the West Indies some momentum in their innings, but only after King was dismissed. It was clearly difficult for spinner Hasaranga to hold onto the damp ball. Evin Lewis, who was participating in his first One-Day International since July 2021, had cramping minutes after reaching his 11th half-century in the format.

Charith Asalanka, the captain, gave the Windies hope once more with his second over, which produced 14 runs. The next over, which set the pace for Sherfane Rutherford, saw Maheesh Theekshana washed for 18. All but 15 runs were reached with a few overs left, after a 20th and 21st over of 10 and 13 runs, respectively. It was interesting to note that Rutherford reached his third consecutive half-century in just 26 deliveries during that exact over. In the same over, Lewis also scored a century, which significantly shifted the game in the visiting team’s favour.

Also Read: Twitter Reactions: Hasaranga, Theekshana, and Asalanka help Sri Lanka go 2-0 vs West Indies

The West Indies won by eight wickets for the first time on the island nation after losing their last ten meetings. Sri Lanka won the ODI series by an identical score of 2-1 as they did in the 20-over leg. Asalanka won Player of the Series after scoring 145 runs in three innings while taking just one wicket.