(COLOMBO, LANKAPUVATH) –Darren Bravo hit a century to lead the West Indies to a comfortable five-wicket win over Sri Lanka and complete a 3-0 whitewash of the ODI series.
Akeal Hosein rattled the Sri Lanka middle order with a three-wicket burst before Wanindu Hasaranga De Silva and Ashen Bandara put on an unbroken century partnership for the seventh wicket to lift Sri Lanka to 274/6.
West Indies were 39/2 before Man of the Match Bravo hit 102 and featured in fifty partnerships with Man of the Series Shai Hope and Kieron Pollard to get the win with nine balls to spare.
It was a celebratory ODI debut for T&T pacer Anderson Phillip, who had figures of 0/43 in the six overs he bowled.
West Indies won the ODI series 3-0 after also winning the T20 series last week 2-1.
Put in to bat by the West Indies, Danushka Gunathilaka (36) and Dimuth Karunaratne (31) put on 68 for the first wicket before an all-too-familiar collapse followed.
Hosein was the chief architect of the slide. Introduced in the 19th over, the left-arm orthodox bowled out his 10 overs taking 3/33 to reduce Sri Lanka to 151/6 in the 35th over.
De Silva and Bandara dominated the rest of the innings with an excellent unbroken stand of 123. They took 63 runs off the last 10 overs, including 20 off the final over from Jason Holder.
Bandara hit four boundaries, while de Silva had seven fours and three sixes in a 60-ball 80 not out, the highest score in ODI cricket by a Sri Lanka number 8 batsman.
West Indies were themselves in a small patch of trouble before Bravo put on 109 for the third wicket with Hope (64).
It was Hope’s 6th straight ODI innings of fifty runs or more, making him the 10th man in history to achieve the feat.
Nicholas Pooran (15) departed quickly before Bravo and skipper Pollard added another 80 for the 5th wicket.
Bravo brought up his 4th ODI hundred and his first since June 2016 off 132 balls during the partnership.
He was dismissed with the West Indies needing 26 off 23 balls, with Pollard (53 not out) and Holder (14 not out) brought home without any further alarm.
West Indies took 30 points in the series and now move up to 5th in the ICC ODI Super League, while Sri Lanka is bottom of the table without a point.
Summarized scores: Sri Lanka 274/6 in 50 overs (de Silva 80* Bandara 55*; Hosein 3/33) vs West Indies 276/5 in 48.3 overs (Bravo 102, Hope 64, Pollard 53*; Lkmal 2/56). West Indies won by five wickets
