Clarke, bowlers star in Australia's victory

Perth: Angelo Mathews‘ 64 went in vain as Australia notched up their 2nd win on the trot in CB series against Sri Lanka in a thrilling encounter by five runs.

This was not the usual Perth wicket with the usual pace and bounce. Today, the track was on the slower side that helped the Sri Lankan spinners during the middle overs of Australia’s innings, which restricted them to 231.

Australia made 231 after being sent into bat by Sri Lanka. In reply Sri Lanka were all out for 226 . Mathews fine knock of 64 took the game to the last over.

After winning the toss, Sri Lanka’s fielded exceptionally which kept the Australia score to below 250. Lahiru Thirmane’s catch to get rid of David Hussey was the turning point of the match.

The main contribution for Australia came from Michael Clarke, who scored 57. Sri Lanka’s bowling started well as they were able to get through top order of Australia players quickly. Wade and Ponting were dismissed by Malinga and Kulasekara. David Warner showed some resistance against the Sri Lankan bowling scoring 34 runs of 29 balls but he was also dismissed at the end of the mandatory power-play.

Michael Clarke shared small partnerships with Hussey brothers which took Australia past 180-odd runs. But it was Daniel Christian who stuck it out with his skipper and put up a partnership of 56 runs. The lower order too chipped in with some runs that took Australia’s total to challenging one.

Sri Lanka’s chase started poorly as they lost Tharanga in the 2nd over of the innings to Starc. Sangakkara joined Dilshan and shared a 50 run stand. However, he was dismissed by an unfortunate run out for 22 and then the middle order couldn’t support Dilshan who played an innings of 40.

Sri Lanka were knocked out of the game after Dilshan’s dismissal but Angelo Mathews took the responsibility at the end despite having just one wicket in hand. He took calculated risks to put pressure on the bowlers which helped Sri Lanka inch closer towards Australia’s total.

But his knock went in vain as he was out in the last over to Starc giving Australia their second victory in the tri-series.

Angelo Mathews had been in this kind of situation in the past. In 2010, at Melbourne Sri Lanka were able to pull of a brilliant chase against Australia. He and Malinga took Lanka home after being asked to chase a target of 240 from 109/8. The pair put on 102 runs for the ninth wicket.

“Yet again we committed the same mistake that happened against India last night. I am really happy the way we were in the field. It’s the batting collapse. This will not be repeated in the next game. You have to be on top when you play top class teams and we see India in Adelaide” said Jayewardene.

Clarke was awarded the man-of-the match for his knock of 57. He said; “Yeah a tight finish, but credit to our bowlers who took the responsibility and bought us in the game. I thought 250 would be a good score since the wicket was slow but our bowlers did manage to defend the total”.

Sri Lanka’s batting has to revive itself if they want to fight back in the tri-series. They face a similar situation that India faced in the test-series.