BIRMINGHAM, England, CMC – West Indies defeated Sri Lanka by 17 runs in a warm-up match yesterday to sign-off their preparations for the Champions Trophy .
West Indian bowlers struck at regular intervals to bowl out Sri Lanka for 280 runs at Edgbaston after the Caribbean side posted a total of 297 runs for the loss of six wickets.
Captain Dwayne Bravo led the bowling with a match-best 3 for 26 from his five overs after half centuries from Johnson Charles, Darren Bravo and Ramnaresh Sarwan setup the West Indies total.
Sunil Narine and Ravi Rampaul picked up two for 26 and two for 46 respectively.
Batting first, openers Chris Gayle and Charles took little time to get into action with an 87-run first wicket partnership in just 12 overs.
But a subdued Gayle who scored 22 was outscored by Charles who hit 58 runs including nine boundaries.
At 122 for three, Sarwan and Darren Bravo stitched a valuable partnership to take West Indies to a respectable total.
Sarwan (55) and Bravo (71) both left the field retired hurt to allow the other batsmen to spend some time at the crease.
A 73-run ninth-wicket stand between Dilhara Lokuhettige and Nuwan Kulasekara had put Sri Lanka in sight of victory before succumbing to Bravo’s mopping up operation.
Kumar Sangakkara top-scored with 56 runs, while the rest of the batsmen failed to capitalise on their starts.
The lower order managed to stretch the game with Kulasekara and Lokuhettige scoring 40 and 42 respectively
