Awesome Allen helps West Indies to series win over Sri Lanka

by

March 08, 2021

Photo

Fabian Allen plays a shot during his knock of 21 runs to help the West Indies beat Sri Lanka in the final T20I yesterday.

Fabian Allen poses with his Player-of-the-Match award after helping the West Indies to win the T20I series over Sri Lanka yesterday

Cometh the hour, cometh the man from St Elizabeth, Fabian Allen who delivered a match-winning performance to help the West Indies to a narrow three-wicket win over Sri Lanka in Antigua to claim the series 2-1 yesterday.

Allen came to the crease with the West Indies struggling at 105 for seven in the 17th over, still needing 27 runs to win, this after the Sri Lankans batted first and made 131 for four.

The right-hander hit three towering sixes in the 19th over off spinner Akila Dananjaya to seal the win with an unbeaten 21 off just six balls, as the West Indies finished on 134 for seven.

Test captain Jason Holder was left unbeaten on 14, as the West Indies once again struggled against the Sri Lankan spinners in their modest run chase.

The home side got a decent start from Evin Lewis and Lendl Simmons, posting 37 in the first five overs, but the pair inexplicably gave away their wickets which prompted a mini-collapse.

Simmons made 26 and Lewis 21, while Nicholas Pooran chipped in with 23. Spinner Lakshan Sandakan bagged three for 29, while there were two wickets each for PHW Da Silva and Dushmantha Chameera.

Earlier, Allen was brilliant with the ball at the start of the Sri Lankan innings, bagging one wicket for 13 runs in his four overs, as the visitors were pegged back at 46 for four in the 10th over, thanks to some disciplined bowling and excellent fielding from the host.

Dinesh Chandimal, 54, and Ashen Bandara, 44, added an unbeaten 85 runs for the fifth wicket to help spruce up the Sri Lankan score.

Off-spinner Kevin Sinclair, Jason Holder and Obed McCoy picked up one wicket each.

Man-of-the-Match Allen said he was confident of getting the job done despite the nail-biting finish.

"I was always confident that I could finish off the match. When you look back at my performance in the CPL, I am used to this, so I just backed myself and execute," Allen said.

The teams will now turn their attention to the three-match One-Day International series at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium starting on Wednesday.