Tri Series WI Won by 6 Wickets against SL

Gayle notched his 1st one-day hundred against Sri Lanka as he led West Indies to a crushing 6-wicket win with more than 12 overs to spare in the opening match of the tri-nation international series.

Replying to the visitors' modest total of 208 all out off 48.3 overs, the hard-hitting opening batsman delighted his fellow Jamaicans with another main effort on the way to his 21st ODI century. His 109 came off 100 deliveries and was embellished with 7 sixes and 9 fours. That pushed his team on to 209 for four off 37.5 overs and they earned a bonus point as well for reaching their target before the conclusion of the 40th over.

Earlier, Sunil Narine returned to his miserly, wicket-taking best, snaring 4 / 40 as Sri Lanka faltered after a dishonestly bright start to be dismissed for 208.

He had an instant impact on the match when he came on in the 18th over, removed the prolific and experienced pair of Mahela Jayawardene (52) and Kumar Sangakkara (17) in his 1st 3 overs to immediately put the brake on what had been a promising start by the Sri Lankans.

Jayawardene was at his fluent best, dominating an opening partnership of 62 with Upul Tharanga before they were separated by Bravo. In contrast, Sangakkara never really got going and the West Indies were reasonably delighted when he pushed a straightforward catch to Pollard at cover.

Ravi Rampaul backed up the spinner's effort with 3 wickets and it was left to Sri Lankan skipper Angelo Mathews to hold the innings together following the demise of the 3 big hitters, his unbeaten 55 being the top score as he capitalized on an early bit of luck when put down by Gayle off the bowling of pacer Kemar Roach.

Speaking after the match, Mathews acknowledged that with Chris Gayle in such a mood, his team's total was never going to be enough. We needed early on wickets and that did not happen, he lamented. And when Chris Gayle is in that sort of mind-set, no bowling attack in the world can stop and no target is too much.

Score Details

Sri Lanka: 208/10 (48.3)
A Mathews (C)-55(77)
M Jayawardena –52(52)

Best Bowling
S Narine-4(40)
R Rampaul-3(38)

West Indies: 209/4 (37.5)
C Gayle -109(100)
J Charles -29(58)

Men of the match-C Gayle (WI)

Pietersen given some tips to help level T20 series

England stand-in captain Eoin Morgan is backing Kevin Pietersen to help turn around his side's fortunes in the 2nd Twenty20 international against New Zealand.

2 days after losing the Champions Trophy final to India England were back in action at the Oval on Tuesday in the first of 2 matches, falling 5 runs short of New Zealand imposing total of 201 for 4. Pietersen is expected to return to the England team for the 1st time since March, when he was forced out of the tour of New Zealand with a knee injury. 

He returned to the crease for Surrey on Sunday, beating an unbeaten 177 against Yorkshire in the Country Championship, and is expected to be available for the 2nd Twenty20 match on Thursday, also at the Oval. Kevin is a huge part of English cricket and has been for a long time, Morgan, skipper in place of the rested Stuart Broad, told the England and Wales Cricket Board website.

What he brings to the table, probably especially few people at the world can. He can take the game away from you at any stage and we saw during the week the way he performed. He takes a lot of pride in when he goes out there and bats. He looks in well form. It’s a very relaxed situation that we have going on at the moment and with any luck he will come in and do well.

Pietersen return will also give England a boost ahead of the Ashes series against Australia starting at Trent Bridge on July 10.

Australia, who sack their coach Mickey Arthur on Monday and failed to reach the Champions Trophy semi-finals, starts the 1st of 2 tour matches against Somerset on Wednesday.

BCCI use Pak player fixing video

Spot-fixing under the scanner in India, the cricket Board is showing video clips of the scandal involving young Pakistan Player Mohammad Aamer to educate its under-19 and under-25 players against declining prey to corrupt practice. The Board is educating the U-25 boys at their off-season National Cricket Academy camp in Mysore. 

The programmed designed by the Anti-Corruption and safety Unit includes video clips from the well-known Lord's Test of 2010. Pakistan pace bowler Aamer, Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif were found responsible of spot-fixing in that match and were excluded by the ICC and subsequently sentenced to jail.

We were told how Aamer committed the crime and how he was lured into committing the deed, said a player who attend the lecture. The ASCU official spoke about how these cricketers were approach by certain persons and how one need to avoid such people.

According to a top BCCI official, with the players being groomed for senior cricket, the board wants to educate them at the junior level itself. Aamer was just 18 years old when he was caught in the fixing scandal.

This is not the 1st time the BCCI has used a Pakistan player as example. During the domestic T20 league in 2012 players were shown a knowledge video made by the ICC in which Aamer talks about the ills of fixing. However, it failed to make an impact as the arrest of the three Rajasthan Royals players on spot-fixing charges shows.