Sanath shines and India thrash Ireland

by Alex Livie , 10 June 2009

Sri Lanka will head into the Super Eights on a high after taking the scalp of West Indies at Trent Bridge.

West Indies hit form for the first time on their tour of England with a mauling of Australia at the weekend, but they were no match for Sri Lanka.

Sanath Jayasuriya (81) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (74) put on a fine show with the bat as Sri Lanka made 192/5 from their 20 overs and West Indies came up 15 short in their pursuit.

With both sides already assured of a place in the Super Eights, the pressure was off and Jayasuriya and Dilshan made hay with the bat by putting on 124 for the first wicket.

No other Sri Lankan batsman made double figures, but it mattered little given the dominance showed by their openers.

Fidel Edwards was given some savage treatment, his two overs disappearing for 37, and it could have been far worse for West Indies were it not for Lendl Simmons’ 4/19.

Simmons carried his form with the ball forward and made 29 in quick time to hand West Indies a platform.

Sri Lanka chipped away with regular wickets, Ajantha Mendis removing Xavier Marshall and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, and despite a fine half century from Dwayne Bravo - West Indies fell short of their victory target.

India will take momentum into the Super Eights after proving far too good for Ireland.

The Irish shocked Bangladesh to book their place in the next phase, but were no match for the tournament favourites.

A superb spell of 4/19 off 3 overs from Zaheer Khan helped restrict Ireland to 112 from their 18 overs.

Without the injured Niall O’Brien, Andrew White starred with the bat for the Irish as he top scored with 29.

Gautham Gambhir hit a quick-fire 37 and Rohit Sharma proved there is life after Virender Sehwag with a superb half century as India chased down their target with over four overs to spare.

Setanta Sports broadcasts exclusively live coverage of the best premium sport including Barclays Premier League, UEFA Champions League, FA Cup, 2010 World Cup Qualifiers, Coca-Cola Championship, Le Championnat, Carling Cup, Russian Premier League, Heineken Cup, Tri Nations, RBS 6 Nations, Rugby World Cup, Guinness Premiership, Super 14, Gaelic Sports and much more.

Edit Web Part Contents