Jason Holder, Shamar Joseph put WI 1-0 up

Jason Holder and Shamar Joseph shared six wickets between them before Shai Hope smashed an unbeaten fifty in the chase as West Indies easily brushed aside Sri Lanka in the T20 series opener in Jamaica on Thursday (June 11).

Sri Lanka surprisingly opted to bat first despite the weather in the region over the last few days that even resulted in the last two ODIs getting washed out. Pathum Nissanka kickstarted with the innings with a boundary each in the first two overs before Kusal Mendis exploded with back-to-back sixes off Matthew Forde. But Holder immediately applied the brakes on the scoring rate by first castling Nissanka before dismissing new man Lasith Croospulle lbw first ball.

Sri Lanka were then dealt another blow when Pavan Rathnayake was caught in the deep by Shimron Hetmyer as the visitors finished the Powerplay at 56/3. Kusal kept going after the bowling despite the flurry of wickets and his intent cost him his wicket as well with Shamar adding to his wicket-tally. Kamindu Mendis then started off slowly before getting into his groove and he had Dasun Shanaka at the other end to revive the Sri Lankan innings again. After 15 overs, Sri Lanka were still well placed at 122/4 and could have added 50 runs at the death.

However, the innings took a disastrous turn. Kamindu hit a fighting fifty but wickets continued to fall at the other end and the island nation just couldn't get any momentum whatsoever. Eventually, Sri Lanka made just 25 runs at the death to finish with 147 on the board. To make a meal of that, the visitors had to draw first blood in the run chase. Instead, fours and sixes flew off the bat of Brandon King and Hope. The contest was pretty much done and dusted when West Indies knocked off 66 runs in the Powerplay alone with both batters looking in great nick.

King, who had hammered three sixes, was bowled by Wanindu Hasaranga much to Sri Lanka's delight but in the same over, Hetmyer smashed the spinner for a four and a six to maintain his side's stronghold. Eshan Malinga, who had a fantastic IPL, couldn't break through despite keeping tight and at the other end, the boundaries continued to flow. Hasaranga struck again but he had also leaked runs by then and West Indies had raced to 97 at the halfway mark.

After the drinks break, the boundaries dried up completely for the next four overs before Hope brought up his half-century with a reverse sweep. Roston Chase endured a torrid time out in the middle, batting on 10 off 24 at one stage before finally breaking the shackles with a six. After Eshan Malinga put an end to his misery, West Indies got the job done in the final over of the contest.

: Sri Lanka 147/9 in 20 overs (Kamindu Mendis 51, Kusal Mendis 36; Jason Holder 3-18, Shamar Joseph 3-29) lost to West Indies 149/3 in 19.2 overs (Shai Hope 65*, Brandon King 37) by 7 wickets