Avishka Fernando and Kusal Mendis both hit centuries in a record third-wicket stand Wednesday to propel Sri Lanka to a 161-run win against the West Indies in the second one-day international and a 2-0 lead in the three-match series.
West Indies captain Kieron Pollard won the toss and elcted to bowl and Sri Lanka responded with a massive 345-8 in 50 overs. Sri Lanka spinners Wanindu Hasaranga and Lakshan Sandakan took three wickets each to bowl West Indies out for 184 runs with nearly 10 overs to spare.
Sri Lanka won the first match by one wicket last Saturday.
Sri Lanka got off to a bad start as West Indies fast bowler Sheldon Cottrell took two wickets in consecutive deliveries with the hosts on nine. Captain Dimuth Karunaratne (1) was caught by Fabian Allen while No. 3 Kusal Perera was caught behind by Shai Hope in the first ball.
Sri Lanka would have been three down early had Pollard not spilled an easy catch at slip to reprieve Mendis on two off seamer Jason Holder. Mendis made good use of the chance, bringing up his second ODI century, a-run-a-ball 119 which included 12 boundaries.
Fernando made 127 runs off 123 balls, including 10 boundaries. Their 239-run partnership was Sri Lanka's highest for the third wicket against any team, surpassing 226 runs between Marvan Atapattu and Mahela Jayawardene nearly 20 years ago.
Fernando was named player of the match.
West Indies made a promising start to their innings with Shai Hope and Sunil Ambris sharing 64 runs for the first wicket. But Hope's wrong call for a run resulted in Ambris (17) being run out in the 13th over. Hope top-scored with 51 runs before being caught by Karunaratne off seam bowler Angelo Mathews.
Darren Bravo (16) misread a googly from Hasaranga for a catch to Dhananjaya de Silva at slip and the Sri Lankan spinners then picked up regular wickets as the West Indies was bowled out in the first ball of the 40th over.
Hasaranga returned the best bowling figures of 3-30 in 10 overs while Sandakan had 3-57.
The third match will be played on Sunday.
