Published 19:54 IST, July 2nd 2019
World Cup 2019 | WATCH: West Indies spinner Fabian Allen stuns with a flying catch to dismiss Sri Lanka's Kusal Mendis
Sri Lanka beat West Indies by 23 runs in an inconsequential clash during their ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 clash at Durham on Monday.
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Sri Lanka beat West Indies by 23 runs in an almost inconsequential clash during their ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 clash at Durham on Monday. The Lankans, who have won the World Cup once and finished as runners-up twice will mostly not be making it to the semis this time around after India's loss against England. They are currently at the sixth spot in the points table with three wins and three losses respectively and have eight points in their tally with one match left. Meanwhile, the West Indies' World Cup campaign has ended as well.
However, even this clash had a lot of dramatic moments. One of them was, of course, an almost career-threatening one when the zing bail had struck West Indian speedster Shanon Gabriel's eye. At the same time, there was also a good moment for them as Fabian Allen showed a lot of athleticism and took a flying catch to get rid off a well-set Kusal Mendis.
It happened in the 32nd over of the first innings. On the final ball of that over, Allen bowled a flighted delivery as Mendis charged down the track and looked to go for a big shot. However, he failed in timing the ball and it was chipped back to the bowler. Allen dived to his right and took a flying catch as a shell-shocked Mendis walked back.
The video of this electrifying catch was posted by ICC.
West Indies skipper Jason Holder won the toss and elected to bowl first. Sri Lankans duly obliged as skipper Dimuth Karunaratne and Kusal Perera added 93 runs for the opening stand. After both openers were dismissed, the 1996 winners made sure that there were no further hiccups thereafter as most of the batsmen were involved in longer partnerships. Riding on a solid ton from Avishka Fernando (104 off 103), the island nation got to a challenging total of 338/6 in their 50 overs.
In reply, the Caribbeans were reduced to 84/4 and were staring down the barrel. Nevertheless, an 81-run stand between Fabian Allen and keeper-batsman Nicholas Pooran kept their hopes alive. Allen scored a quickfire 32-ball 51 while Pooran played a splendid knock of a 103-ball 118. After the duo was sent back to the pavilion, the Caribbeans lost their way as they finished at 315/9 in their 50 overs.
19:05 IST, July 2nd 2019