Cricket: West Indies made to pay for scrappy play

The tournament's form batsman, Sri Lanka's Mahela Jayawardene, has slammed an unbeaten 98 off 56 balls to help inspire Sri Lanka to a 57-run victory over hosts West Indies in the World Twenty20 Super Eights.

Jayawardene lashed nine fours and four sixes as the visitors compiled 195-3 off 20 overs, the highest total of the tournament so far. The 32-year-old got sound support from captain Kumar Sangakkara, who supplied 68 off 49 deliveries.

The left-hander struck five fours and three sixes. The pair's second-wicket stand of 166 was an overall partnership record for Sri Lanka in Twenty20s.

West Indies never challenged and limped to 138-8 off 20 overs. Spinner Ajantha Mendis claimed 3-24 while pace ace Lasith Malinga grabbed 3-28.

The hosts had early success after Sri Lanka won the toss and batted as Kemar Roach (2-27) removed Sanath Jayasuriya on 6 to a miscue to short fine leg. But West Indies was scrappy in the field and Jayawardene and Sangakkara them pay.

Sangakkara was let off early by captain Chris Gayle at slip and also had a let-off when Kieron Pollard floored a difficult return catch. Jayawardene, after passing 50 off 29 deliveries, had a reprieve on 66 when a top-edged skier landed safely in between wicketkeeper Andre Fletcher and Wavell Hinds.

Jayawardene, with scores of 81 and 100 in his previous innings in the competition, missed the chance to be the first player with two centuries in Twenty20 internationals as the overs ran out while he was still two runs short.

Record-breaking spinner Muttiah Muralitharan may have paid a price for his surprise return from injury.

The all-time top wicket-taker in test and one-day international cricket was initially ruled out of the World Twenty20 with a strained right adductor muscle. Sri Lanka said he would need up to three weeks to recover but he bowled four overs against West Indies.

The team's Australian coach Trevor Bayliss said that the spinner, who had figures of nought for 26, was struggling.

"He's getting treatment, he's pulled up a bit sore so we will just have to wait and see how it comes up tomorrow morning, that will be the real test. At the moment it doesn't look great."

Bayliss said Muralitharan had passed himself as fit to play: "You take the word of the player, Murali thought he was right, he was ready to go and when a player of the calibre of Murali says he is right to go ... he knows what his body feels like."

Sri Lanka's next opponents are Australia today - and the Australians warmed up with a crushing 49-run win over India as Dirk Nannes destroyed India's top order and David Warner hit a record seven sixes.

Not since the 1980s has Bridgetown seen such a blood-curdling exhibition of fast bowling as Australia have offered.

Their 150km/h quicks - Nannes, Shaun Tait and Mitchell Johnson - are evoking memories of the West Indies' heyday while proving bowlers do not have to be cannon fodder in this form of the game.

Tait and Nannes wrecked Bangladesh and Johnson returned from injury to complete an even more imposing attack.

If anyone took a hammering, it was the Indian batsmen, whose traditional weakness against pace was exposed as they slumped to 50 for seven. For all their batting stars, it is hard to see them regaining the World Twenty20 title when they still have to play the West Indies - and a potential final - on this pacy and bouncy pitch.

Australia, by contrast, have now been installed as 2-1 favourites, after arriving as ninth seeds because of their first-round exit in England last year.

The Australians initially saw the 20-over game as a lottery that prevented them from "showcasing our skills", in Ricky Ponting's phrase. After five successive defeats last year, they realised that different skills were required, specifically the ability to beat batsmen for pace and to clear the ropes when batting.

Their total yesterday, 184 for five, was not up among the highest in Twenty20 internationals, but they were only one strike away from equalling the record for sixes in an innings.

The muscular opening partnership of Shane Watson and David Warner took over after Harbhajan Singh started the game with a maiden. "Boom boom pow," sang the Black Eyed Peas over the PA system, and how the batsmen obliged. In a stand of 104 from 10.5 overs, the ball went flying out of the stadium so often that it could have had wings.

India were not helped by the fact that they lost their new-ball bowler Praveen Kumar to a side-strain and had no spare seamer in their party. Such is the batting-dominated mindset of the Indian Premier League. Dhoni was left with just two quicks in conditions that begged for speed, and had to resort to eight overs of filthy, village-greenish spin.

The only Indian to show any appetite for back-foot play was Rohit Sharma, who hit six sixes in a masterful unbeaten 79. But he was left stranded when Tait cleaned up the tail.