West Indies 189 with everything (Rutherford 80, Motie 50, Hasaranga 4 of 40) vs. Sri Lanka
The match is shortened by rain: only 44 overs have to be played for each team and then the start of the games is delayed for two hours. The sound may be taking a very wide turn and it proved extremely difficult, even for Rutherford, who top-scored with 80 off 82 balls. The West Indies team is bright, but their players can still mount a strong defence.
But together, they managed to cobble together a surge – Motie knew how to start, with a boundary off a full toss from Hasaranga, before Rutherford also became more confident at the crease. They still participated and lacked enough, but now they also found barriers in the middle. Motie was once particularly excellent through the barricade and rancid in the bowling of Hasaranga, who bowled enough leg-breaks of late. They now own the best ninth-wicket haul by West Indies in ODI history.
In fact, at the 25-over mark, Motie had surpassed Rutherford’s ranking, having been placed at 35 compared to his wife’s 33. But now, having faced almost 50 balls, Rutherford took the position of number one aggressor, hitting strong barriers that upset the fielder and on the side of the legs.
He was handed his fifty (off 57 balls) with a hoick over square leg off the bowling of Charith Asalanka, and he persisted in playing with the big shots. He hit four sixes and seven fours in total, until he was caught on the deep square leg rope – Dunith Wellalage’s base just inches away from touching the boundary when he held the catch, off the bowling of Asitha Fernando. Incorrect. 11 Jayden Seales was out in the next over, waiver Motie was stranded on 50 off 61 balls.
Sri Lanka will have finished this innings a lot sooner. In the final twenty seconds, when Rutherford had 23, he skied a ball from Fernando to mid-on, but Janith Liyanage couldn’t hold on to the swirling perspective. Sri Lanka would have had the West Indies at 99 for 9 if they had. Rutherford fell again for 72, through Nishan Madushka on the deep midwicket boundary, off Wellalage’s bowling last time out.
And yet, Sri Lanka’s spinners can be proud of how well they took the first eight wickets. Theekshana’s sprout was once particularly poisonous, even if he bowled flat and fast, and the ball often kicked up puffs of mud on a deteriorating floor.
Theekshana set the weaker in motion with an excellent drive that beat the outside of left-hander Alick Athanaze’s bat and clipped the stump. Closer in, a big shoot sneaked between Keacy Carty’s bat and home plate and rattled the stumps just as clearly, before a slider edged the wild reverse drive Hayden Walsh attempted against Theekshana in the 15th over.
Hasaranga’s googlies were doing the usual damage, with Chase caught by one that once flew fantastically. Hasaranga had to paint less crisply for the wickets of Romario Pastor, and José Alzarri, who did not feel like choosing him. He would also rush the overall wicket of the innings, causing Jayden Seales to get stuck and bowled. He claimed best innings figures of four for 40.
Fernando’s 3 for 35 was especially notable on a track that did not favor him, on the other hand. He brushed aside Brandon King with a surprising bouncer that King played too early, before bowling Shai Hope with a relatively backfield delivery that the batsman dragged straight into his stumps. That he missed out on the big job was also a small feat.
Andrew Fidel Fernando is senior editor at ESPNcricinfo. @afidelf
