Sri Lanka reach 110 for three against Australia after 25 overs – ICC World Cup 2011
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746, being played at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. Half way through their innings, the hosts scored 110 runs for the loss of three wickets.
Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara won the toss and elected to bat first. The wicket was good for batting and a high scoring game was expected. However, the weather forecast suggested that there might be some showers during the second half of the game.
Upul Tharanga and Tillakaratne Dilshan opened the innings for the home team, but they failed to get their side off to a good start. Dilshan was dismissed early by express paceman Shaun Tait. The ball was pitched up and it was shaping away from the batsman,
who slashed hard at the ball. However, he only managed to edge it to the safe hands of the slip fielder Cameron White. The flamboyant opener only managed four runs off four balls.
Tharanga wasn’t looking comfortable in the middle today but when he found the meat of his bat, the ball went straight to the fielder Steve Smith, who took a magnificent one-handed catch. Tharanga was shocked, as he had to take the long walk back to the pavilion
after scoring just six runs from 18 balls.
After the fall of both openers, two of Sri Lanka’s best batsmen Mahela Jayawardene and Sangakkara, came together at the crease. They put together a 44-run partnership for the third wicket. However, Jayawardene was unfortunate to be run-out for 23 off 25,
courtesy some sharp fielding by Smith.
The fall of the former Sri Lankan captain brought the veteran Thilan Samaraweera to the crease. He steadied the innings along with his captain, and the pair took their team’s total to 110 in 25 overs. Sangakkara was unbeaten on 54 from 78 balls whereas;
Samaraweera was also looking good, batting on 17 off 25 balls. Both batsmen will be looking forward to put up a big partnership to rescue their team from trouble.
The Kangaroos' pace attack proved to be lethal for the openers, as http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Brett-Lee-c48419 and Tait took one wicket each for their team in their opening spells.
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