Sri Lanka kept their dominion by crushing world champions Australia to a series win and beating the Kangaroos in yet another exciting encounter in the second One Day International match at Sydney Cricket Ground on Saturday.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 won the toss, opted to bat first in highly overcast conditions that supported the seamers.
Their openers gave them a great start with Upal Tharanga consolidating the score and staying at the wicket throughout, carrying the bat during the 41 overs play. Tharanga read deliveries coming to the bat well with perfect timing and accurate execution.
His delighted knock of 86 not out came off 112 balls and consisted of 6 splashing boundaries.
The left-handed opener was well supported by hard hitting Tillakaratne Dilshan who with natural slogging kept the score board ticking with a quick fire 47 off 57 balls. His knock included five boundaries which helped Sri Lanka solidify their position and
gain an early psychological advantage over the opponents.
The pair put on 98 for the first wicket in less than 20 overs with an average of around 5 runs per over, before Dilshan was trapped leg before wicket by a straight ball drifting in to the stumps which he tried playing across.
With Mahela Jayawardena’s wicket crumbling right after Dilshan’s, Kumar Sangakkara and took the charge with the inform Tharanga.
Sangakkara played a true captain’s knock and guided the innings smoothly on a dry track with heavy outfield. With his classical batting style, he made Australian bowlers pay for their poor display of bowling.
Shane http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Watson-c96326, who grabbed 2 wickets for 34 runs in the 8 overs he bowled, remained the pick of Australian bowlers. Rain interrupted Sri Lanka’s innings twice, before the umpires finally decided to call it off at 213 for 3 in 41.1 overs.
Duckworth-Lewis method came into action and the hosts were given a target of 244 in the 39 overs.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 certainly felt the pressure right from the word go in the innings, when Brad Haddin misguided an in-swinger by Nuwan Kulasekara by dragging the ball back on to the stumps.
Ricky Ponting gave away his wicket to Perera in the 7th over of innings trying to play a pull. None of the batsmen after him could resist against varying pace attack of Sri Lankan bowlers.
Kulasekara, Perera, Muralitharan, Randiv and Malinga all chipped in with wickets to bowl out Australia for 210 in the 38th over to take an unassailable lead in the 3-match series. It is also Sri Lanka’s first-ever series win in Australia.
This is Australia’s seventh straight defeat in international games and looks to be a serious matter of concern for Ricky Ponting and his men.
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