Sachithra Senanayake bowls Sri Lanka to T20 win

Tillakaratne Dilshan scored a half century and Sachithra Senanayake grabbed four wickets as Sri Lanka defeated the West Indies by 30 runs in their first Twenty20 international in Pallekele Monday.

Sri Lanka made 215/3 after the West Indies won the toss and opted to field at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium.

The start of the match was delayed by over an hour due to rain, and when play finally got under way all of Sri Lanka’s top-order batsmen were in fine form.

Dilshan hit eight fours on his way to notching 56 while left-handed opener Kusal Perera scored 40 before being caught by Darren Sammy off burly bowler Kieron Pollard for the fall of the first wicket.

Right-handed Dilshan walked soon afterwards when he attempted a reverse sweep and completely missed the ball — Pollard’s second wicket of the night.

Shehan Jayasuriya was on 36 when he was caught and bowled by Sunil Narine.

At the end of the 20 overs Dinesh Chandimal was on 40 while Angelo Mathews was 37 not out, leaving the West Indies chasing a difficult target of 216.

“Thanks to all the batsmen,” said Sri Lanka captain Lasith Malinga.

“They realised these conditions are hard to bowl in and they put up a good total for us.”

Scores: SL 215/3 (T. Dilshan 56, D. Chandimal 40 n.o.; Pollard 2/42) bt WI 185 in 19.5 overs (A. Fletcher 57, D. Bravo 24, S. Narine 23; Malinga 2/19, Senanayake 4/46, Siriwar-dana 2/41)