Joy of six for Chanderpaul

Shivnarine Chanderpaul hits the final delivery for six to secure victory © Getty Images

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Shivnarine Chanderpaul struck a six off the last ball to seal a remarkable one-wicket victory for West Indies in the first one-day international against Sri Lanka in Trinidad.

With nine wickets down chasing 236 for victory, West Indies needed 10 to win off two Chaminda Vaas deliveries, and, even when Chanderpaul hit the first of those for four, it looked an unlikely ask.

But Vaas bowled a full toss and the Guyanese batsman swung the ball over a despairing Mahela Jayawardene at wide long-on to complete an astonishing triumph.

Chanderpaul, who finished unbeaten on 62, was the mainstay of a stuttering innings which began with a Chris Gayle half-century and featured contributions from Dwayne Bravo and Ramnaresh Sarwan respectively.

Gayle swung freely from the start but missed as many as he hit - until Ishara Amerasinghe was brought into the attack.

Gayle struck three fours and a six off the first two overs from the 30-year-old, who was promptly withdrawn from the attack.

And it was his replacement Nuwan Kulasekara, already returning for his second spell, who got the breakthrough, trapping an off-balance Devon Smith lbw for 14 with the score on 53.

Though Gayle reined in his shots somewhat, he went to 50 with a single off debutant Ajantha Mendis.

Chanderpaul, who finished unbeaten on 62, celebrates a stunning win © Getty Images

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The spinner was causing problems for both Gayle and Sarwan, though, and was duly rewarded with the scalp of Gayle, lbw for 52.

Sarwan swiftly followed, edging Kulasekera to Kumar Sangakkara for 35 and, in the same over, Marlon Samuels was trapped in front first ball.

Despite the clatter of wickets, Bravo played in typically aggressive fashion and, along with the more circumspect Chanderpaul, helped to right the West Indies ship.

Bravo made a quickfire 36, which included two sixes, in a partnership of 59 with Chanderpaul before being run out after a mix-up with his partner.

Patrick Browne threatened briefly, hitting a huge six over long-on before holing out trying to repeat the feat, and Mendis returned to the attack to remove Darren Sammy with a doosra which struck off stump.

Jerome Taylor miscued to Chamara Silva and Sulieman Benn struggled to get bat on ball, succeeding only in being run out by Jayawardene without scoring when he did.

Chanderpaul struck the next ball for four to reach 50, but that left Fidel Edwards on strike with 13 needed from the final over.

Three singles left Chanderpaul needing 10 off two - a feat he achieved to spark wild celebrations among the Port of Spain crowd.

Earlier, Chamara Kapugedera and Chamara Silva amassed a record partnership as Sri Lanka recovered from a terrible start to post 235 for seven.

Three early wickets for man of the match Bravo, who finished with 4-33, saw the tourists reduced to 49 for five but Kapugedera (95) and Silva (67) added 159, a Sri Lanka record for the sixth wicket in ODIs.