Shiv Chanderpaul made his first World Cup century today.
In Jamaica, a maiden World Cup century by opener Shivnarine Chanderpaul guided the West Indies to a commanding 8 wicket win over Ireland today. While in Trinidad, another stunningly poor batting performance by the Indians have left them all but out of this World Cup.
Ireland won the toss and chose to bat first. After suffering the early loss of Willliam Porterfield, Jeremy Bray (41) briefly threatened to take the game away from the West Indies. His dismissal to a lofted drive to cover from a Jerome Taylor slower delivery, changed the complexion of the game entirely and Ireland struggled the rest of the way. Ireland were eventually restricted to 183/8 in 48 overs as a rain interruption had reduced the game to 48 overs a side. The much maligned Duckworth/Lewis method inexplicably set the West Indies 190 to win within the same 48 overs. The West Indies went about the task in a workman like fashion and easily knocked off the runs in 38.1 overs. Chanderpaul led the way with 102 n.o. off 118 deliveries. Chris Gayle failed for the second time in three matches, and his lack of form with the bat must be a concern heading into the Super Eights.
In Trinidad, India were effectively knocked out of the tournament by Sri Lanka. India's only hope is now for Bermuda to beat Bangladesh on Sunday. The term "commercial favourites" was bandied about quite a bit today as commentators tried to grasp the magnitude of the effect that India's shock exit will have on the rest of the World Cup, in particular for advertisers who banked heavily on a large television audiences among India's 1 billion population.
Batting first, the Sri Lankans struggled throughout most of their innings as half centuries by Upul Tharanga (64) and Chamara Silva (59) built a solid foundation for the Sri Lankans, before cameos by Russell Arnold and Chaminda Vaas carried the score to a very respectable 254/6 in 50 overs. The Indians found batting difficult against the Sri Lankan bowling. Muralitharan in particular mesmerised the Indian batting. He had Mahendra Dhoni plum leg before bowling a topspinner that skidded onto the batsman. The Indian innings looked doomed when Tendulkar was bowled for a duck in what is likely his last World Cup Innings. If so then, the fate of the highest run scorer in World Cup history would be reminiscent of that of Don Bradman, who was bowled for a duck in his last Test innings. The Indian innings ended on 185 inside 44 overs, 69 runs short of the target. An undoubtedly angry fan base will await the Indian players back home.
The West Indies and Sri Lanka finish on top of groups D and B respectively and will carry the maximum 2 points into the Super Eights.
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