Close Sri Lanka (239 for 2, Jayawardene 106*, Atapattu 82*) beatWest Indies (235 all out, Hooper 72, Ganga 52) by eight wickets
Scorecard

Marvan Atapattu and Mahela Jayawardene added an aggressive 185* for the third wicket as Sri Lanka surged to an easy eight-wicket victory against a shell-shocked West Indies. Coming together at 54 for 2, the pair struck out boldly and roared to their target of 236 with 6.5 overs to spare. While Atapattu marshalled the innings with a typically sturdy 82*, Jayawardene was in murderous form, scorching to 106 from only 94 balls. His sixth one-day international century included a brace of memorable and massive sixes off Marlon Samuels as well as eight fours. Neil McGarrell and the hapless offspinner Samuels took the worst of the stick, conceding a combined total of 73 runs in nine wicketless overs.

The West Indian bowling struggled as a whole, although the performance of teenage paceman Jermaine Lawson provided hope for the future. Lawson first persuaded Asanka Gunawardene to mis-time a drive to mid off, then, after he and Corey Collymore had reined in Jayasuriya's initial violence, he forced the Sri Lankan captain to take the aerial route and loop a catch to Ramnaresh Sarwan. After Lawson (2 for 49) and Collymore (0 for 46) had completed their pleasing spells, only Carl Hooper (0 for 34 off 8 overs) kept things tight as Atapattu and Jayawardene slogged, stroked and scampered Sri Lanka home.

Atapattu had won less welcome headlines earlier in the day when he was involved in a hideous collision with West Indian linchpin Brian Lara, leaving Lara with a dislocated elbow.

The West Indies recovered from the shock of losing their best (some would say only) batsman to post a total of 235, with captain Carl Hooper top-scoring with a classical 72. He was well supported by the improving Daren Ganga who notched 52, his third half-century of the tournament. Even this total represented something of a disappointment after Hooper had led his side to 170 for 3 after 37 overs. Canny work by Sri Lanka's legion of spinners and suicidal strokeplay by the inexperienced lower order led to West Indies losing 7 for 65 in the last 13 overs of their innings. Ridley Jacobs belied his age in scoring 25 boundaryless runs off 28 balls, but the West Indian total never troubled Sri Lanka once Jayawardene's wrists got to work.

A Lara-less West Indies must now beat Zimbabwe tomorrow if they are to join Sri Lanka in the final on Wednesday.

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