COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, CMC – Captain Jason Mohammed and Andre McCarthy stroked hundreds as West Indies A completed an impressive 3-0 whitewash of Sri Lanka A in their unofficial One-Day International series here yesterday.
Playing at the Khetterama Stadium, the Caribbean side extended their impressive batting form by rattling up 305 for five off their allotted 47 overs, with Mohammed hitting an unbeaten 105 off 108 deliveries and McCarthy getting 102 off a mere 75 balls.
Seamers Ronsford Beaton (2-38) and Kesrick Williams (2-74) then picked up two wickets apiece as Sri Lanka A were limited to 248 for seven off their allotted 38 overs, to go down by eight wickets under the Duckworth/Lewis method.
Set a revised target of 257, Danushka Gunathilaka top-scored with 58 while Milinda Siriwardana (35), Pathirana (34) and Dasun Shanaka (33 not out) all got starts, but Sri Lanka A failed to get that big innings required.
The victory capped off a remarkable series performance by the Windies A, who won the opening game by 165 runs in Dambulla and the second by 109 runs in Kurunegala.
Choosing to bat first, West Indies overcame a stoppage for rain early in their innings to top the 300-run mark for the second straight game.
Chadwick Walton hammered 36 off 41 deliveries with three fours and a six as he dominated an opening stand of 43 with Kyle Hope who failed for the first time in the series with seven.
The visitors lost three wickets for 16 runs to stumble to 59 for three in the 15th over before Mohammed and McCarthy changed the game in a brilliant 163-run fourth wicket stand.
Mohammed struck eight fours and three sixes while McCarthy blasted 13 boundaries and three sixes, as West Indies A powered through the middle overs.
Jamaican McCarthy was especially superb. He required 48 balls for his first fifty but then turned on the style, blasting four boundaries in one over from left-arm spinner Sachith Pathirana and a pair of sixes off off-spinner Shehan Jayasuriya’s fifth over, to reach triple figures off another 24 deliveries.
Mohammed was more measured, however. He brought up his half-century off 74 balls but then needed only 31 balls to raise his century.
Rovman Powell produced a small cameo with 24 off 16 balls but it was Mohammed’s 47-run, unbroken sixth wicket stand with Kyle Mayers (17 not out) that saw Windies past 300.
Asked to score at over six-and-a-half runs per over, Sri Lanka A got a decent start when Gunathilaka spearheaded two decent partnerships up front.
The left-hander faced 60 balls and counted six fours and put on 44 for the first wicket with Sandun Weerakkody (20) and a further 46 for the second wicket with Jayasuriya (18).
But the hosts lost wickets steadily thereafter to decline to 166 for six in the 31st over and Pathirana and Shanaka’s 51-run, seventh wicket partnership was not enough at the end.