Twenty20 Warm-up Games: West Indies, Sri Lanka register win

London: Sri Lanka and West Indies began their Twenty20 World Cup on a good note with victories in their warm-up games. In the first match, Sri Lanka beat Bangladesh by 4 wickets. Bangladesh had lost their first match to Australia yesterday. In the second match, hurricane Chris Gayle powered West Indies to an easy 9-wicket victory over Ireland.

Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bat first. They piled up 151/6 in 20 overs. Raqibul Hasan remained unbeaten on 38, while Mushfiqur Rahim made 34. Shakib Al Hasan scored 23. For Sri Lanka, Isuru Udana took 2 wickets.

In reply, Sri Lanka reached the target of 152 in 19.4 overs, losing 6 wickets. Mahela Jayawardene was the top scorer with 43, while Sanath Jayasuriya made 29. For Bangladesh, Shakib Al Hasan and Mashrafe Mortaza took 2 wickets each.

In the other match, Ireland won the toss and elected to bat first. They were contained by the West Indies bowling attack and finished at 130/7 in 20 overs. For West Indies, Sulieman Benn took 2 wickets.

Chris Gayle made a mockery of the target with his unbeaten 88 off 56 balls. He hit 6 boundaries and 7 sixes. Ramnaresh Sarwan remained unbeaten on 25. West Indies reached 134/1 in 16 overs.