Hope ton takes Windies to 8-wicket win over Sri Lanka

ANTIGUA: Opener Shai Hope scored 110 to lead West Indies to an eight-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the first ODI at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium. Hope's 10th ODI century helped West Indies chase down a target of 233 with three overs remaining.

The Sri Lankan innings was marked by the dismissal of opener Danushka Gunathilaka, who was sent back after West Indies captain Kieron Pollard appealed against him for obstructing the field on Wednesday. The on-field umpire referred the decision to the third umpire with a soft signal of out and the latter wasted little time in confirming the call.

Earlier, Gunathilaka and captain Dimuth Karunaratne's opening partnership of 105 runs was broken after the latter was dismissed by Pollard in the 20th over on 52.

Sri Lanka completely lost the momentum they had gained from the opening stand after Gunathilaka's dismissal two overs later and they were eventually all out for 232.

West Indies also had a big opening stand but they hardly ever looked back after that. Hope and Evin Lewis put up a partnership of 143 runs before the latter was dismissed by Dushmantha Chameera in the 29th over. Hope then put up 72 for the second wicket with Darren Bravo that brought West Indies on the cusp of victory and Jason Mohammed then saw them through.

BRIEF SCORES: Sri Lanka 232 all out in 49 overs (Danushka Gunathilaka 55, Dimuth Karunaratne 52; Jason Mohammed 2/12, Jason Holder 2/39) lost to West Indies 236/2 in 47 overs (Shai Hope 110, Evin Lewis 65; Dushmantha Chameera 2/50). IANS

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