Sri Lanka smash woeful West Indies

Daily Result: £410.95

At their brilliant best they're more than a match for any team in the world. But when they're bad they can be simply awful. And today they were just that - simply woeful. Dropped catches, overthrows, wides, misfields. Chris Gayle, the bowler with perhaps the shortest run up in international cricket, even managed two no balls in one over! When a dog ran onto the pitch to leave a steaming pile of something or other in the middle one couldn't help but smile at the sentiment.

It's a crying shame really. There's obviously internal conflict in the West Indies set up and it seems to be manifesting itself in the on pitch performances. The World Cup is struggling enough as it is with Bob Woolmer's death, perpetual rain, empty grounds due to a preposterous ticket pricing policy and the unexpected loss of India and Pakistan. The last thing we need is for the host nation to drop out so early. They haven't quite. But their future in the World Cup no longer rests entirely in their own hands.

Everything seemed to start ok. The Windies won the toss and fielded. Two early wickets appeared to justify the decision and their heads were up. But as Jayasuriya and Jayawardene put on 183 for the 3rd wicket you could see the Windies' heads drop. Their game fell to pieces and it all got a bit embarrassing as it took them nearly 4 hours to bowl their 50 overs.

Which all begs the question how I effectively only had a small green each way at the innings break. (I was actually green Lanka and red Windies) Truth is I fancied there to be early wickets but kept getting involved too late. I finally took the plunge when the out of form Jayawardene arrived at the crease and I backed the Windies at 1.77. Mistake! Shortly after Jayasuriya gave a batting masterclass hitting 36 off 14 deliveries, moving the Windies price to 2.5 in the process! I'd got out but it was all a little quick, I was too slow and I was effectively all red. Totally missed the momentum behind the big swing. Poor trading which took the rest of the innings to sort out as Jayasuriya went on to smash 115.

With Sri Lanka posting 303 it was always going to be a tough run chase. My real concern was Gayle would be able to go out, cut loose, and play his natural game. I backed the Lankans anyway with a stop on the trade in place but the market never hit the stop. Gayle failed to fire again and there were other early wickets, including Sangakkara's awesome stumping of Brian Lara.

The market just fell and continued to fall really. Bravo failed to capitalise on a decent start and although Chanderpaul and Sarwan put on a good partnership their strike rates were simply too low and the run rate rose to such a point that the market simply hit 1.01 with the fall of a couple more wickets. The match was effectively over hours before it finished in a 113 run victory for the Sri Lankans. Though after their own exploits against South Africa the other day I doubt many switched off before making the sure the victory was in the bag.

So a good profit on the day but not the closest of matches. As a trader all I should be concerned about is the money. It was a good result. And not the hardest match to profit from. But as a cricket fan I'm disappointed. And am increasingly so with the entire competition. Mustn't let my heart rule my head though. Bit mercenary but ultimately my trading results come first.