World Cup head-to-head: Windies have beaten Lanka four times

Bengaluru, June 25: Former champions West Indies and Sri Lanka will lock horns at ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 on July 1 at Chester-le-Street.

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The Lankans have beaten the West Indies four times in their last five meetings with their latest encounter taking place more than two-and-half years ago. Overall, the Caribbeans had a good record over the Sri Lankans. Currently, they have a slender 28-25 advantage against their Asian opponents from 56 games. Three matches have ended without a result.

At the World Cup, the two teams have met six times with the West Indies having a 4-2 lead. One match was abandoned in the 1979 edition while the Caribbeans gave walkover in the 1996 tournament because of security concerns. The last time they met at the World Cup was in 2007.

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Here we take a brief look at all Sri Lanka-West Indies games that have taken place at the quadrennial event:

Windies beat Sri Lanka by 9 wickets; group match; Manchester; June 7, 1975

Clive Lloyd won the toss and sent Anura Tennekoon's Sri Lankans to bat first in what was the first-ever World Cup match for both teams. The Lankans had no answer to the Caribbean pace attack and were bundled out for just 86 in 37.2 overs with No.10 batsman Somachandra de Silva top scoring with 21. Bernard Julien took four for 20. The West Indies sealed the game in less than 21 overs with Roy Fredericks scoring 33. De Silva took the only wicket that fell and Julien was the man of the match.

Match abandoned; group game; The Oval, June 13, 14, 15, 1979

The game was abandoned because of heavy rain that made play impossible even for the next three days.

Windies beat Sri Lanka by 191 runs; group match; Karachi; October 13, 1987

Duleep Mendis won the toss and asked the West Indies to bat first. The Caribbeans posted a mammoth 360 for four in 50 overs which was quite an exception in those days. Skipper Viv Richards slammed 181 in just 125 balls which eclipsed the other centurion Desmond Haynes (105 off 124 balls). Ravi Ratnayeke took two for 68. The Sri Lankans settled for a plan to not get all out. Ashanka Gurusinha scored 36 off 108 balls while Arjuna Ranatunga remained not out of 52 as the highest scorer of the innings. Carl Hooper took two for 39 for the West Indies as they restricted the Lankans to 169 for four in 50 overs to win by 191 runs. Richards was the man of the match.

Windies beat Sri Lanka by 25 runs; group match; Kanpur; October 21, 1987

Mendis won the toss in the return match and sent the West Indies to bat first again. The Sri Lankan bowlers did a far better job this time to restrict the Caribbeans to 236 for eight in 50 overs. Opener Phil Simmons top scored with 89 while Gus Logie made 65 not out. Ravi Ratnayeke took three for 41. However, the Sri Lankan batting failed to fire as barring Ranatunga's unbeaten 86 and Brendon Kuruppu's 33, none could rise to the occasion. Patrick Patterson took three for 31 and the Lankans could manage 211 for eight in 50 overs to lose by 25 runs. Simmons was the man of the match.

West Indies beat Sri Lanka by 91 runs; league match; Berri; March 13, 1992

Aravinda de Silva won the toss and asked the Caribbeans to bat first. Simmons rose to the party again by slamming 110, though at No.3 this time. Keith Arthurton scored 40, Desmond Haynes 38 while No.11 batsman Winston Benjamin made an unbeaten 24 as Windies made 268 for eight. Chandika Hathurusingha took four wickets for 57 runs. Sri Lankan batting again failed to impress as opener Athula Samarasekera top scored with 40. Ranatunga scored 24 while Lanka's No.11 Pramodya Wickramasinghe made 21 not out. Sri Lanka ended up with 177 for nine in 50 overs to lose by 91 runs. Three Windies bowlers took two wickets each and Simmons was the man of the match.

West Indies forfeited match to Sri Lanka in 1996

Richie Richardson's West Indies refused to travel to Sri Lanka to play Ranatunga's side because of security concerns.

Sri Lanka beat Windies by 6 runs; group match; Cape Town; February 28, 2003

Sanath Jayasuriya won the toss and elected to bat first, for a change. He top-scored for his side with 66 while Hasan Tillakaratne made 36. A late flourish from Russel Arnold (34 not out off 44) and Chaminda Vaas (28 not out off 25) helped Sri Lanka reach a score of 228 for six in 50 overs. The West Indian duo of Chris Gayle (55) and Ramnaresh Sarwan (47 not out) gave their side hope till Sarwan got retired hurt. Gayle's dismissal saw the Caribbeans, led by Carl Hooper, losing a number of quick wickets and it pegged the West Indies back and despite a 25 from tail-ender Vasbert Drakes, they could reach 222 for nine in 50 overs to lose by just six runs. Vaas took four for 22 and was the man of the match.

SL beat Windies by 113 runs; Super Eight stage; Georgetown; April 1, 2007

West Indies captain Brian Lara won the toss and asked Sri Lanka to bat first. Jayasuriya slammed a century (115 off 101 balls) while skipper Mahela Jayawardene made 82. Tillakaratne Dilshan made a quickfire 39 not out towards the end to push the Sri Lankan score to 303 for five in 50 overs. Pacer Daren Powell was the best West Indian bowler with two for 38. The Windies were in the game till Shivnarine Chanderpaul (76) and Sarwan (44) added 92 runs for the fourth wicket but once Sarwan departed, the hosts' innings fell apart and they were all out for 190 in the 45th over. Centurion Jayasuriya took three wickets for 38 runs to end up as the man of the match.