Holder, Joseph set up victory as West Indies go 1-0 up

West Indies 149 for 3 (Hope 65*. King 37, Hasaranga 2-32) beat Sri Lanka 147 for 9 (Kamindu 51, Holder 3-18, Joseph 3-29) by seven wickets

West Indies survived a spirited Sri Lanka defence in chase of a middling target of 148, before they eventually secured a final-over,. ultimately comfortable, seven-wicket victory in the first T20I at Sabina Park. The rain which had been forecast stayed away. as a raucous home crowd finally got something to celebrate following the ODI washouts.

A flicked six over deep midwicket by Rovman Powell off the expensive Dilshan Madushanka sealed the win,. it was one built on the patience of Shai Hope. The West Indies captain made it a point to carry his bat through the innings in a 54-ball 65*,. ensured there would be no hiccups come the crunch.

Hope was part of a rampant 38-ball opening stand of 67 with Brandon King, before shifting gears through the middle to string crucial partnerships of 28, 33. 21* with Shimron Hetmyer, Roston Chase and Powell, respectively.

Sri Lanka's bowlers toiled to drag the game deep in the second half of the chase. buffering a 66-run powerplay to take the game into the final over. Wanindu Hasaranga was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 2 for 32. while Eshan Malinga also impressed with 1 for 26.

But on a wicket that wasn't necessarily the most conducive to shot-making. it was Sri Lanka's batting that let them down. Kamindu Mendis waged a lone war for much of the innings during a 39-ball 51. while before that, Kusal Mendis had blitzed 36 off 23 deliveries. But contributions aside from theirs was not nearly enough.

Jason Holder 's 3 for 18 was the catalyst for all the good West Indies managed with the ball,. it earned him a deserved Player-of-the-Match award.

Generally, when chasing a middling target on a sticky surface, a fast start in the powerplay when the ball is hard. seven fielders are in the ring is almost a prerequisite. And on that front, the West Indies openers delivered.

The pair of Hope. King struck 66 in an opening six-over salvo, as Sri Lanka were left ruing a host a missed opportunities - and King was at the centre of each of them.

The first was off Dushmantha Chameera. who rushed the right-hand batter with a short one that he could only miscue to midwicket. A no-ball check from the third umpire, though, offered a reprieve, much to the delight of the home crowd. The free hit that followed was a yorker squeezed to mid-on for a single that was never on. But Sri Lanka again let a chance slip by missing the direct hit.

Then. off the first ball of the very next over, Madushanka looked to have trapped King lbw, only for the decision to be overturned upon review for the ball having pitched outside leg.

King made the most of his good fortune as he found his timing soon after. racing along to a 22-ball 37 before eventually been knocked over by a googly from Hasaranga. Hope, at the other end, carried on at a similar click, managing 29 off 17 deliveries during the stand. But as the game progressed, he slowed down to crucially bat through to the latter stages. see the hosts home.

If West Indies' start was belligerent, what followed certainly belied that. The ten overs leading up to the death brought 54 runs. two wickets, as Sri Lanka clawed themselves back into proceedings. Such was West Indies' early impact, it meant Sri Lanka were always underdogs;. it crucially kept them in the game till the latter stages.

Key to this was the spin pair of Maheesh Theekshana and Hasaranga. The latter was more expensive, giving away 32 in his four overs, even as he picked up the wickets of King. Hetmyer. Theekshana, meanwhile, went wicketless, but his four overs went for just 20 runs.

Ably assisting them was Malinga, carrying over his IPL form, as he mixed up his lengths. pace with a four-over spell of 1 for 26. Chameera also responded well from the early tap he was on the receiving end of by landing some crucial yorkers in the death overs.

To put it into context, between the tenth. the final over, West Indies struck just one six and two fours. It meant they need six off the final over. And Powell needed just two deliveries to ensure they win.

Earlier. Kusal continued his rich vein of form with a with a 23-ball 36 to ensure a near ten-runs-per-over powerplay for Sri Lanka. Twenty-six of those runs came in boundaries. including three sixes - two consecutively off Matthew Forde in a 17-run fourth over. That. though, would be Sri Lanka's most profitable over of the evening as a flurry of wickets to end the powerplay reined in the visitors just as they were looking to build a head of steam.

From 43 for no loss, Sri Lanka found themselves 56 for 3 at the end of the powerplay,. then 65 for 4 midway through the eighth over. Two of those four wickets went to Shamar Joseph, although he owed one to Hetmyer. The latter took a stunning catch at deep square leg to dismiss Pavan Rathnayake to hand Joseph his first wicket. Joseph's second came when he fired one at 142kph on an in-between length,. got Kusal's leading edge popping up to point.

Sri Lanka's situation was made considerably more perilous owing to the fact. their 6-5 combination meant a shorter batting line-up.

Following the sudden loss of their top order, including their in-form captain, Kamindu. former captain Dasun Shanaka had their work cut out. With only Hasaranga to come in the form of any sort of batting, wickets were at a premium. risks a minimum.

This was reflected in just the eight boundaries scored between the pair. including three sixes, in the eight overs they batted together. That they managed a run rate of 7.37 in this period was a credit to the pair's running between the wickets. Even so. Chase, in particular, proved hard to get away with his quick offbreaks, as he snuck in 13 dots to the pair before the pressure eventually told as Shanaka sliced Chase to backward point while attempting to up the tempo.

That wicket was timely for West Indies, coming just as Sri Lanka would have been eyeing a death-overs assault. It meant Hasaranga had little time to get his eye in. before he too fell two overs later for an inconsequential 3 off six balls as Joseph launched a sharp bouncer at high pace to force an outside edge to Hope.

The pressure on Kamindu mounted,. West Indies also did well to starve the set batter off strike for concerted periods, with him eventually dismissed in the final over while looking to retain the strike on an ill-advised double.

Fresh off a run to the IPL final, Holder once more proved his worth in the shortest format as he read the conditions quickly. assertively to rein in Sri Lanka after a fast start. Introduced in the fifth over. Holder induced a miscue over short third first up from Pathum Nissanka, before following up with a well-directed full inducker to knock over the opener.

Holder then set himself up for a hat-trick with a successful lbw review the very next delivery to dismiss Lasith Croospulle. who was playing just his second T20I. While the hat-trick was not forthcoming, Holder's intervention had successfully shifted the momentum.

He then returned at the death to pick up his third as part of an outstanding two-run penultimate over,. ended with figures 3 for 18. It meant that despite Kamindu. Shanaka's best efforts at a mid-innings recovery, Sri Lanka were unable to land the finishing blows, thus managing just 25 for 4 in the death overs as the innings petered to a limp close.