King and Lewis quick fifties lead West Indies to a 5-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the T20 series opener

DAMBULLA, Sri Lanka (AP) — Openers Brandon King and Evin Lewis scored half-centuries and shared a 107-run stand in 55 balls on Sunday to guide the West Indies to a five-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the first of their three Twenty20 matches.

Sri Lanka scored 179-7 in their 20 overs after West Indies captain Rovman Powell won the toss and opted to play at the Rangiri Dambulla Stadium.

In reply, West Indies reached 180-5 with five deliveries remaining to take an early lead in the series.

King hit six and eleven fours in his innings of 63 runs off 33 deliveries, while Lewis hit four sixes and five fours for his 28-ball 50.

The pair at times maintained a run rate of over 13 runs per over to lay a solid platform.

After Lewis was bowled out in the 10th over – caught by Chamindu Wickramasinghe off fast bowler Matheesha Pathirana – the hosts took two more wickets for 21 runs to threaten a comeback. But the West Indies middle order maintained the momentum to take their team over the line.

Pathirana took two wickets for Sri Lanka.

Earlier, captain Charith Asalanka (59) and Kamindu Mendis (51) led Sri Lanka’s batting and posted a competitive total.

Asalanka faced 35 deliveries and hit nine fours, and Mendis hit two sixes and five fours in his 40-ball knock.

Fast bowler Romario Shepherd took 2-39 for West Indies.

The second match will be played at the same location on Tuesday.

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AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket