The third ICC World Twenty20 begins with a colourful opening ceremony in Guyana ahead of a double-header featuring Sri Lanka against New Zealand and hosts West Indies taking on Ireland
Reggae star Shaggy provides some typically 'Boombastic' pre-match entertainment before the New Zealand and Sri Lanka captains take the field for the toss
Having lost to Pakistan in last year's final, Sri Lanka are desperate to go one better and Mahela Jayawardene soon has the scoreboard ticking over at a healthy rate
Jacob Oram takes the first wicket of the tournament, bowling Tillakaratne Dilshan, as Sri Lanka lose momentum and only reach 54-2 at the half-way point of their innings
Newcomer Dinesh Chandimal helps Jayawardene add 59 for the third wicket but falls to an excellent leaping catch by Ross Taylor, who is patrolling the boundary at long-on
Jayawardene makes 81 off 51 balls, including two sixes and eight fours, before being caught at the start of the penultimate over as Sri Lanka eventually post a score of 135-6
New Zealand make a dismal start in reply as Brendon McCullum tries to pull the third delivery of their innings and Lasith Malinga (left) dives forward at mid-wicket to take the catch
Jesse Ryder plays some typically forthright strokes to get the Kiwis up and running but after making 42 off 27 balls he loses a battle of wits with spinner Mutiah Muralitharan and is bowled
Sri Lanka have the match in their grasp as New Zealand lose wickets but two sixes from Jacob Oram revive the Kiwis and Nathan McCullum (pictured) blasts the penultimate ball over the rope to seal a two-wicket win
In the day's second game, an injury-hit West Indies bat first against Ireland but after a couple of early boundaries from Shivnarine Chanderpaul, he is caught off Boyd Rankin
Ireland strike an important second blow when Windies skipper Dwayne Bravo drills the ball back at Alex Cusack who manages to hold a juggling catch
There are plenty of Guyanese flags on show at the Providence Stadium, most of them held aloft by West Indies supporters hoping for a home victory
Teenager George Dockrell (second from left) looks a little sheepish after taking two wickets in three balls and the 17-year-old later claims another victim to finish a magnificent four-over spell with 3-16
Darren Sammy hits two sixes in his 30 off 17 balls, one of which smashes a window, to see West Indies to a score of 138-9 and then takes three catches as Ireland slump to 16-4 at the start of their reply
Pace bowler Ravi Rampaul collects three of the Irish top-order wickets and their decline continues after a rain hold-up as they struggle to put together any kind of meaningful partnership
Dwayne Bravo bowls Trent Johnston and West Indies eventually wrap-up a comfortable 70-run victory with 20 balls of the Ireland innings remaining
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