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Sri Lankans lose
for the third time against Australia |
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Scorecard
 Sri
Lanka's chances of making it to the finals of
the CB Series became dim as they lost to the
Aussies for the third time. Rain brought a
premature end to the 9th ODI at the Melbourne
Cricket Ground with Sri Lanka crawling at 77 for
4 in 29.3 overs! This was after chasing a
moderate target of 185. Australia emerged as the
winning team by 28 runs according to the
Duckworth Lewis Method which needed SL to have
102 on the board.
It was a golden opportunity for Sri Lanka to
upset Australia after they had restricted them
for 184 for 7 having asked them to bat first.
Chaminda Vaas and Farveez Maharood bowled
incredibly well to have the Aussies struggling
at 54 for 4 in over 21 overs. Maharoof, coming
in at one change bowled out his 10 overs on the
trot conceding just 20 besides removing Hayden
(23 from 53) and Symonds. The all rounder was
also instrumental in getting Ricky Ponting (11)
run out. The inform Michael Clarke (50 from 69
balls with 4 fours) came to the rescue again for
his team and he was ably assisted by Michael
Hussey (64 from 98 with just one four) with the
pair putting on 90 for the 5th wicket. None of
the Sri Lankan bowlers had been costly for
Mahela Jayawardene.
The Aussies had a fighting total to defend,
especially on a heavy outfield. Stuart Clark
provided them the much needed early wicket of
Sanath Jayasuriya, caught playing an expansive
drive off the first ball he had faced! Clark
also went onto remove the other opener, rookie
Dilruwan Perera, who was unlucky to be given out
lbw. Sangakkara and Skipper Jayawardene came in
a tough position and were forced to bat
cautiously. The Aussies made them work hard for
each and every run and soon the pair fell in the
trap of improvising in their strokeplay. First,
Jayawardene (27 from 45 with 3 fours) fell
steering Nathan Bracken into the gloves of
Gilchrist and then a few overs later, Sangakkara
(22 from 59) got out miscuing a hook shot off
Hopes.
Sri Lanka were going nowhere at 77 for 4 when
rain kept pouring to give no chance of any
further action. Chamara Silva was on 16 fro 47
and Dilshan on 9 from 14 when play was stopped.
With the kind of batting that was left for the
tourists, it seemed extremely difficult for the
Lankans to get the remaining runs. Michael
Hussey got the Man of the Match for his
responsible knock.
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