World champs Australia have a ball at Galle

GALLE, AUGUST 22: The Galle Fort, outside the ground, formed the second and third tier for the spectators, who were out there in a mood t...

GALLE, AUGUST 22: The Galle Fort, outside the ground, formed the second and third tier for the spectators, who were out there in a mood to enjoy, bringing with them musical intsruments and lending a carnival atmosphere to the surroundings. In the end, they may have been disappointed by the performance of their team but they never let their spirits droop. A crowd like this deserved better from their team. When Shane Warne came in to bat, they booed him with as much decibel level as their lungs could afford. It was a sight which Arjuna Ranatunga would have loved, as he was the one at the receiving end of this magical wrist spinner’s tongue-lashing in the print during the World Cup.

Warne had come into bat when the Sri Lankans were doing quite well and skipper Sanath Jayasuriya was having a ball with the ball. They had the pleasure of jeering at Warne at a time when Australia were seven down for 170 and the Sri Lankans had done well to spring back into the game after about 90 minutes of rain had forced theumpires to shorten the game from its original 50 overs to 43.

Warne, like most of his predecessors did not last long and when the end came, Australia had made a score which did not look outside the scope of the Sri Lankans. There were a number of Australians who did not cross double figures, not even Steve Waugh, who was caught in that spell of Jayasuriya’s when the Sri Lankan captain was getting wickets at will. Not that he bowled anything sensational, but the Australians, in an effort to step up the run-rate, were foxed by the bowler’s clever variation of pace. If the Australians still managed to cross the 200-run mark, it was due to a fine opening stand from Mark Waugh and Adam Gilchrist and a couple of useful contributions from Ricky Ponting and Michael Bevan.

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The Sri Lankans were also given a revised target, under the Duckworth-Lewis system which comes under operation if the overs are shortened due to rain. They now needed to make 212 runs to win the match instead of the 206 set by the Australians.The Sri Lankan captain finished with a haul of five wickets but his team would have loved to see him belt the ball with the bat like he has often done in the past. He failed to do so, lasting only for six balls and his dismissal signalled the beginning of Sri Lanka’s fall.

SCOREBOARD

AUSTRALIA

A Gilchrist run out (31b, 51m, 1×4, 1×6) 27
M Waugh c Chandana b Perera (33b, 45m, 3×4) 28
R Ponting st Kaluwitharana b Jayasuriya (71b, 108m, 3×4) 38
D Lehmann run out (40b, 55m, 2×4) 26
T Moody st Kaluwitharana b Jayasuriya (7b, 10m, 1×4) 6
S Waugh b Jayasuriya (7b, 5m, 1×4) 6
M Bevan not out (42b, 50m, 3×4) 42
A Symonds run out (7b, 9m, 1×4) 8
S Warne c Chandana b Jayasuriya (8b, 8m) 3
J Gillespie st Kaluwitharana b Jayasuriya (1b, 1m) 0
Fleming not out (6b, 10m) 4
Extras: (lb4, w8, nb5) 17
Total: (for nine wkts in 43 overs) 205
Fall of wickets: 1-60 (M Waugh, overs 10.2), 2-62 (Gilchrist, 10.5), 3-110 (Lehmann, 23.1), 4-119 (Moody, 26.2), 5-127 (SWaugh, 28.3), 6-160 (Ponting, 36.5), 7-170 (Bevan, 38.1), 8-182 (Warne, 40.3), 9-183 (Gillespie, 40.5)
Bowling: Vaas 9-0-61-0, Soysa 8-2-39-0, Perera 7-0-25-1, Murali 9-0-38-0, Jayasuriya 9-0-28-5, Chandana 1-0-10-0

SRI LANKA

S Jayasuriya c Moody b Fleming (6b, 10m) 1
A Gunawerdana c Gilchrist b Gillespie (19b, 23m, 1×4) 8
M Atapattu b Gillespie (11b, 30m) 5
M Jayawerdana c S Waugh b Gillespie (7b, 7m 1×4) 7
Indika de Seram b Moody (31b, 47m, 3×4) 24
R Kaluwitharana c Gilchrist b Fleming (46b, 56m, 4×4) 33
U Chandana run out (47b, 61m, 1×4) 30
S Perera c Bevan b Warne (39b, 45m, 2×4, 1×6) 26
C Vaas not out (11b, 16m) 5
N Soysa c Lehman b Warne (3b, 4m) 4
M Muralitharan c Ponting b Lehman (6b, 8m) 2
Extras: (b4, 6lb, 5w) 15
Total: (all out in 37.4 overs) 160
Fall of wickets: 1-7 (Jayasuriya, 1.5 overs), 2-17 (Gunawardane, 4.5), 3-25 (Jayawardane, 6.2), 4-41 (Atapatu, 8.2), 5-78 (De Seram, 17.3), 6-90 (Kaluwitahrana, 22.3), 7-145(Chandana, 34), 8-149 (Perera, 34.2), 9-154 (Soysa, 35)
Bowling: Gillispie 6-1-26-3, Fleming 9-0-40-2, Warne 9-1-39-2, Moody 7-1-21-1, Lehman 6.4-0-24-1