Australia v Sri Lanka

The Clash for Honor

The super eight match played on Monday was between Sri Lanka and Australia. The outcome of the match would not have much bearing on the standing of both the teams in the world cup as both of them have qualified for the semi finals. Australia already went to the next round by winning all the matches in this world cup till now. Sri Lanka got their way to the next round by New Zealand beating South Africa in the group match. Thus the match was more about flexing muscles and testing each others abilities before locking horns in the knock-out stage. Sri Lanka rested few of their key players like Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Murlitharan. The idea was to protect them from any kind of injury as well as hide their main artillery from the defending champions.

Jayawardene won the toss

The Sri Lankan skipper Mahela Jayawardene won the toss and elected to bat first. The decision was against the customary practice in this world cup. The pitch looked very good for batting. The surface looked solid and seemed that the ball would easily come on to the bat. The Sri Lankan batsmen known for their stroke play was given a chance to get some practice with the willow.

Disastrous Start

Sri Lanka had a dismal start at the beginning of the innings. The opening pair accumulated just 26 runs before Sanath Jayasuriya was trapped before the wicket. Although Glenn McGrath suggested before Jayasuriya was his prey but it was Nathan Bracken who picked him up after he scored 12 runs from 12 balls. With just 1 run added to the scoreboard Kumara Sangakkara was out lbw bowled by McGrath with a golden duck against his name. The other opener Upul Tharanga also could not put much resistance and was out scoring 6 runs from 22 balls. Sri Lanka was in dire situation with 27 runs for the loss of 3 wickets in 6.4 overs.

Strong partnership in the middle….

After the fall of the top order it was the Lankan skipper Mahela Jayawardene and the middle order bat LPC Silva who brought some stability to the innings. They guided the innings very cautiously by playing each ball to its merit. They were involved in a huge 140 run partnership. Their effort not only took past Sri Lanka to the 100 run mark but placed them in a comfortable position.

Lankan batting collapses again….

The Sri Lankan batting experienced a bigger collapse during the end of the match. They lost 5 wickets with accumulation of just 17 runs. The partnership of Jayawerdene and Silva was broken by Bradd Hogg by picking up LPC Silva. Siva made 64 runs of 107 balls. The next to depart was Jayawardene by scoring 72 runs from 88 balls. After both of them left the next three batsmen followed suit and made it to the pavilion in a space of just 6 overs. From 167 for 3 wickets, Sri Lanka was reduced to 184 for the loss of 8 wickets.

It was some hammering by the tail ender CM Bandara that took past Sri Lanka the 200 run mark. He scored 17 runs from 19 balls with two huge sixes. Sri Lanka finally packed off by the Aussies with 226 runs on the board in 49.4 overs.

Australia had an opening partnership of 76 runs that laid a solid foundation for the innings. Soon after the other opener Adam Gilchrist also left after scoring 30 runs from 49 balls. The next to go was Michael Clarke by scoring 23 runs from 31 balls. Australia was rallying on 126 runs for the loss of 3 wickets in 23.1 overs.

The Sri Lankan bowling attack was clueless as to how to contain the devastating Aussie batting. All of them got some harsh treatment and had high economy rate. Among them the successful bowler were Russel Arnold with 2 wickets giving away 20 runs and CM Bandara picking 1 wicket at the cost of 53 runs.