Sri Lanka registered a comprehensive victory against the West Indies to book a spot in the final of the ICC World Twenty20 against Pakistan.

Sri Lanka win by 57 runs

Angelo Mathews struck thrice in the first over of the innings to remove Xavier Marshall, Lendl Simmons and Dwayne Bravo.

Muttiah Muralitharan joined the party for the Lankans as he pocketed a patchy Ramnaresh Sarwan. The West Indies are losing the plot.

Murali also got rid of Pollard to land the West Indies into deeper trouble before snapping up Jerome Taylor to virtually end all hopes for the West Indies.

Ajantha Mendis sent back Shivanarine Chanderpaul to put Sri Lanka in the driver’s seat before pocketing Darren Sammy.

Sri Lanka are 158 for five

A brilliant knock by Tillekaratne Dilshan was the saving grace for Sri Lanka, who managed to post a decent total against the West Indies at the Oval.

Dilshan finished with an unbeaten 96, the best ever by a Sri Lankan in a T20 International innings.

Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumara Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene have perished in quick succession as the Sri Lankan innings starts to stutter. The Windies are all charged up.

Dwayne Bravo struck twice in the same over to snap up a struggling Jayasuriya and Sri Lankan skipper Sangakkara.

Meanwhile, Tillekaratne Dilshan kept things moving for the Lankans with a well-made 50 off 30 balls.
Bravo ended Jayasuriya’s misery at the crease, sending the veteran back to the hut for a painful 24 off 37 deliveries.

Suleiman Benn snapped up Chamra Silva to end an enterprising partnership between Silva and Dilshan.

Jehan Mubarak perished when he pulled Jerome Taylor, thanks to a sensational catch by Darren Sammy.

The Toss

The West Indies have won the toss and decided to bowl first against Sri Lanka in the second semi-final at the Oval.

The unbeaten Sri Lankans are playing their first game of the tournament at The Oval, where their opponents have featured three times previously and defeated both Australia and England.

Opposite number Chris Gayle has spoken of the feel good factor at the south London venue, which also witnessed their Champions Trophy success in 2004, and claimed, after knocking out the hosts, he did not care who they played in the semi as long as it was there.

But any familiarity could be cancelled out by the extra bounce Sri Lanka spin duo Muttiah Muralitharan - who once claimed 16 wickets in an Oval Test match - and Ajantha Mendis can extract from the surface during the ICC World Twenty20 semi-final on Friday night.