West Indies answered Sri Lanka’s early edge with a seven-wicket win in the first of three Twenty20 internationals on Thursday in Jamaica, chasing 9-147 and turning the opening night of the series quickly in their favor. Rovman Powell finished it with a six in the final over, with four balls left in the chase.
The result gave West Indies a 1-0 lead and immediately flipped the mood after Sri Lanka had arrived off a rain-hit three-match ODI series they won 1-0. That backdrop is why the Sri Lanka national cricket team vs West Indies cricket team match scorecard drew attention so fast: the same visitors who had just taken the ODI series were put under pressure from the first over of the new format.
West Indies made the chase look controlled at first. They reached 66 runs in the opening six overs, then needed 20 runs from 20 balls before the pursuit tightened to a run a ball from nine deliveries remaining. Shai Hope held the innings together with an unbeaten 65, while Powell supplied the last strike that made the margin look comfortable on the scorecard.
Sri Lanka had set the platform after winning the toss and choosing to bat. Kamindu Mendis made 51 and Kusal Mendis added 36, but West Indies kept taking wickets through the middle and at the back end. Jason Holder finished with 3-18 and Shamar Joseph took 3-29, a spell that kept the tourists to 3-149 and left them with too little cushion once the chase gathered pace.
Holder said after the match that it was a really good bowling performance and credited the bowlers. He said West Indies always think about getting wickets in the dressing room and that he was thinking to attack. That mindset was the difference after Sri Lanka’s ODI success, because this time West Indies seized the first contest and did not let the series settle into the visitors’ rhythm.
The next two Twenty20 internationals were scheduled for Saturday and Sunday at Sabina Park in Kingston, giving Sri Lanka a quick chance to answer back. If they do not, West Indies will have done more than win the opener; they will have turned a rain-shorted ODI setback into control of the series inside three days.
