Hope hopes heroics lead to win in 2nd ODI at Hambantota
Shai Hope continues his outstanding run of form for West Indies on One-Day cricket, the keeper is also hoping his heroics will lead to a win over Sri Lanka in the ongoing series. On Saturday at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo, Hope made 115 – his second century in his last seven innings. It was the highest score for West Indies in Sri Lanka, surpassing the 110 made by Adrian Barath at the same venue back in 2011.
“It’s now do-or-die for us. We’re 0-1 down and we have two more games to make amends. I’m sure the guys have what it takes to come out and turn it around,” Hope said.
“I had to ensure that I came out and stamped my authority on the first game. Unfortunately, it didn’t come out to be a wining effort, but it was still nice to get some runs under my belt.”
West Indies entered the series one point behind the Sri Lankans in the ICC ODI rankings and are looking to move ahead of the hosts. With one match gone, the visitors now have to make it back-to-back wins the achieve that feat.
In the first match, Roston Chase (41) and left-hander Darren Bravo (39) both got starts but failed to carry on, while all-rounder Keemo Paul lashed a 17-ball unbeaten 32 batting at Number 8 to give the West Indies a strong finish. Given out leg-before to seamer Nuwan Pradeep off the second ball of the game before he had scored, Hope used the DRS reprieve to reach his half-century off 77 balls at the start of the 26th over, before raising triple figures in the 43rd over off 128 deliveries.
“I think there were some key moments, where we could’ve probably put our foot down a bit more. The run out [between myself and Bravo], we probably could’ve gotten a lot more out of that partnership,” he said.
Hope was speaking as the team arrived in the coastal town of Hambantota for the second match on Wednesday.
The day/night contest will be played at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium. First ball 2:30 pm (5am Eastern Caribbean Time/4am Jamaica Time).