Out of form Australia loses One Day series against Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka could not do anything but to celebrate to what they have achieved now in Australia. They have won the One Day series against the Aussies with one match to spare. For Australia like many other series of recent past it is one big eye opener as they
won’t be going into The Ashes series with a lot of confidence.
Sri Lanka has managed to win their first series against Australia in Australia after 26 years. For Australia there are too many questions before them to answer. Sri Lanka defeated them by 29 runs in what is their 7th consecutive defeat in all forms of cricket.
It was a rain affected match in which rain disturbed the match in different phases.
Upul Tharanga and Tilkaratne Dilshan provided a sound batting display for the Lankan’s as they managed to take Sri Lanka’s total to 213 for 3 in 41.3 over’s before rain disturbed the play. Duckworth http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Lewis-c72807 method was used to revise Sri Lanka’s total and Aussies
were given a target of 240 from 38 over’s, a target that had difficulty written all over it.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 was able to dismiss Australia convincingly in the end. Australia never looked comfortable in chasing their total and lost wickets at regular intervals. Ultimately it was too much for the Aussies to chase in the end and they lost the match by 29
runs.
Sri Lanka had a slow start to their innings as they were not able to get off the mark in the first two overs. It was a good opportunity for the Aussies to get Sri Lanka out for a low total on a seaming Sydney wicket. Sri Lanka started slowly but as overs
went by they started to gain momentum. Sri Lanka were cautious enough to not lose early wickets and built their innings.
From the 5th over onwards they started to lift their run rate and pushed it around 4.50 runs per over. Both of the openers placed the ball in gaps for singles and picked the odd boundary whenever they got the chance. Tharanga was the main architect
of their innings as he played some lovely shots and more importantly he was able to build a solid foundation for the other batsmen.
Dilshan was the aggressor between the two openers and struck four boundaries off the Australian bowlers. Tharanga played with more responsibility and picked up a lot of singles. He reached his fifty by hitting two boundaries on the leg side off the bowling
of Nathan Hauritz.
Australia managed the first breakthrough when Dilshan was trapped leg before of the bowling of Hauritz in the 19th over. Dilshan made 47 off 57 balls with 5 impressive fours. Sri Lanka were 98-1 in the 19th over and things were looking
good for the islanders as more specialist batsmen had to follow.
After Dilshan’s dismissal the run rate did drop for a few overs as the Aussies tried to stop the Sri Lankan run flow. The second wicket fell for the visitors when Jayawardene was trapped leg before off the bowling of Watson. He made 5 runs. For Australia
there was a chance to bowl tight and dry the run rate of Sri Lanka but apart from a couple of overs Australia was not able to put pressure on the visitors.
Captain Sangakara played in his usual style of hitting the odd boundary and placing the ball in the gap for singles. Like his many innings in this match he was able to provide the necessary support in the middle order.
Australian bowling at different phases did seem impressive but it was not threatening, as none of their bowlers were able to take wickets at regular intervals and provide a major breakthrough. Sri Lanka was able to maintain a run rate of around 4.70 in the
middle overs.
When Sri Lanka were 161 for 2 in 34 overs, rain disrupted the play and as a result 5 overs were chopped from their 50 overs. Sri Lanka resumed after the rain delay and were looking to build a big total on the board. Sangakara played an impressive knock
of 45 runs off 52 balls with 4 fours. He along with Tharanga had a partnership of 70 runs between them. He was dismissed in the 37th over of the bowling of Mckay when he was caught by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Watson-c96326 at third man position.
Sri Lanka were 186-3 in the 37th over and were looking to post a serious total on the board. Tharanga was very impressive as he played a responsible knock of 86* off 112 balls with 6 fours. The characteristic of his innings was his disciplined
batting and he did not allow the bowlers to dictate terms to him.
Mathews played an impressive knock of 17 runs off 11 balls to take Sri Lanka’s total to 213 in 41st over. Rain again disrupted the play and Duckwork Lewis method was implemented to formulate a new target of 240 from 38 over’s for the Aussies.
Watson was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 34-2 from his 8 overs. Siddle was also effective but did not pick up any wickets.
Australia had a troubled start to their innings as they lost an early wicket in the first over as the fast scoring Haddin was bowled for 1 run by a beautiful in-swinger from Kulasekara. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 were not comfortable in the seaming conditions and found it
difficult to play Lankan bowlers with ease.
In the 5th over Australian’s had to suffer another loss when Captain Ponting was caught by Silva when he hooked a ball off the bowling of Perera. He contributed 10 runs to the total with 2 boundaries.
For Australa the run rate was a factor that had to be kept under check as they had to chase 240 in just 38 overs, a daunting task in seaming conditions. Some hope came from Watson and Clarke as both of them built a partnership of 46 runs between them. It
was a good partnership keeping in mind the fact that Sri Lanka had its tail up and were bowling with a lot of confidence.
Watson was dismissed in the 14th over when he was trapped leg before off the bowling of Muralitharan. He made 40 runs which included a six. Australia were 78-3 and needed a big knock to take them all the way. In the very next over their hopes
were dashed when Michael http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Clarke-c51120 pulled a ball off the bowling of Perera that was caught by Muralitharan at third man position.
Australia were constantly behind the run rate and were losing wickets at regular intervals. Hussey and White had a small partnership of 32 runs before Hussey was caught at mid off of the bowling of Muralitharan in the 22nd over. Australia were
112-5 in the 22nd over and had one mountain to climb as they had to chase 128 more runs from 105 balls.
Australia’s slightest hope was White and if he could pull a miracle out of this position. He played a reasonable knock of 35 off 43 balls but it did not include any boundaries, which was the need of the hour for the Aussies. White was bowled by Kulasekara
in the 30th over when Australian score was 155, and along with him all the hopes of the Aussies to keep the series alive were gone.
Smith and Johnson scored some runs but it was not enough to reach the mammoth required rate. They lost the remaining wickets in quick succession as they were all dismissed for 210 in the 37th over. Perera, Muralitharan, Randiv, Kulasekara all
chipped in with couple of wickets. Murali bowled with a good economy rate and did not give much to hit to the batsmen. Malinga was also effective in the final overs.
Sri Lanka won the series 2-0 with one match to go. For Australia it is the losing phase that has gone on for a bit too long for them and they would definitely like to salvage some pride by winning the third ODI at Brisbane on Sunday.
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