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Fri, 29th Feb 2008  Melbourne: Sri Lanka humbled Australia by 13 runs to clinch the 12th match of the CB series in a remarkable game that see-sawed rapidly.
Chasing 222, Australia found themselves in a hole at 173/9. However, the last wicket pair of Brett Lee (37) and Nathan Bracken (14) put together a dogged 35-run stand to take them closer to the target.
The equation boiled down to 14 runs in two overs. Sanath Jayasuriya, summoned to bowl the 49th over, castled Lee who went for an expansive pull.
Chasing 222, Australia were cruising after Adam Gilchrist put them right on top with a 50-ball 83.
However, six wickets went for 16 runs between the 14th and the 24th over as Sri Lankan seamers Nuwan Kulasekara and Ishara Amerasinghe turned the screws on the Aussies.
The Australian openers, led by a furious onslaught by Gilchrist, sailed their way to 100 in the 13th over.
Gilchrist switched into the kind of mode when it becomes impossible to bowl to him. A pull off Amerasinghe in the seventh over signified the kind of mood he was in.
As if eager to sign off on a glorious note in his final appearance in Melbourne, Gilchrist went about carting the bowlers in this customary fashion, racing to fifty in just 35 balls with eight fours and a six.
He had his share of luck when Muttiah Muralitharan trapped him in front, but the umpire wasn’t convinced.
Gilchrist continued his assault on the hapless Lankan bowlers, using his feet to Muralitharan to take the aerial route. Lasith Malinga, too, couldn’t hit the right length pitching the ball too full and wide.
Australia had sailed their way to 100 in the 13th over, threatening to make quick-work of the chase. Sri Lanka finally got the breakthrough when James Hopes, who was a spectator at the other end, fell for 28 under strange circumstances. The ball just brushed the bails and dislodged it. Replays finally confirmed that Hopes was bowled.
Gilchrist fell soon after trying to loft Kulasekera; Malinga somehow managed to hold the ball even as he lost his balance going for the dive. Even at that stage there was no hint of a looming disaster which started with the dismissal of Michael Clarke.
Clarke (0) was done in by a delivery that jagged back giving Ishara Amerasinghe his first wicket. Ponting (1), who looked a little out of sorts in the middle, went back to a Kulasekera delivery that wasn’t quite short in length and was trapped in front.
Andrew Symonds (0) didn’t last long either getting a faint tickle on the leg-side off Amerasinghe. At 5/115 Australia were staring down the barrel.
Mike Hussey and Brad Haddin tried to grit it out but the Sri Lankan bowlers gave no quarter. The Lankans still needed to see the back of Hussey who has steered Australia home from similar situations in the past.
Sri Lanka almost blew it up when they made a hash of an easy run out chance to dismiss Hussey.
Once Hussey perished for five, bowled off Nuwan Kapugedera to a ball that kept low, it was all over for the Aussies.
Brad Hogg (21) and Lee dug themselves even as Sri Lanka kept chipping away in the middle-overs. Sri Lanka fielded brilliantly in the middle-overs, keeping a tight leash on the batsmen.
Earlier, fighting half-centuries by Mahela Jayawardene and Tillakaratne Dilshan helped Sri Lanka recover from another top-order collapse in the last game of the CB series at Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Electing to bat, Sri Lanka had lost their first four batsmen with just 61 on the board. However, Dilshan shared a 64-run stand with skipper Jayawardene (50), and later put together a 60-run partnership with Chamara Silva, who got a useful 35, to help Sri Lanka put up a competitive score of 221 in 50 overs.
The lack of a solid opening stand has been part of Sri Lanka’s woes in this series. More often than not, Sri Lanka’s middle-order, led by Kumara Sangakkara, has had to do the recovery act.
It was a familiar pattern at Melbourne with Lanka losing their first wicket as early as in the sixth over.
Brett Lee set Dilruwan Perera up with a bouncer, followed it with an away-going delivery and a sharp in-cutter before outfoxing him, leg-before, with a slower delivery.
Sanath Jayasuriya had an unusually quiet tournament — one of the reasons why Sri Lanka find themselves playing this inconsequential game.
In the seventh over, the Matara mauler clobbered Lee with a six and a four – the first one over deep third man and the second over deep square leg – igniting hopes of a fairytale ending in what is his last game in Australia.
However, Bracken cut short his innings getting one to rear up a bit outside off. Jayasuriya (23) jabbed at it and Mike Hussey pouched a simple chance at first slip.
Sangakkara (11), Lanka’s man for crises in this series, didn’t last long either, losing his wicket to Mitchell Johnson. The ball shaped away and flew to Hussey who flung himself to his right to take a stunning catch.
Chamara Kapugedera’s dismissal for two, edging James Hopes to Adam Gilchrist, rounded off a dismal summer for Sri Lanka’s young guns.
Jayawardene resurrected the innings collecting singles and pouncing on anything short of length. He got his 50 off 66 balls (five fours) before a Brad Hogg flipper trapped him in front.
Dilshan (62) looked like getting Sri Lanka close to the 250-run mark until he lost his wicket going for a cheeky single, failing to beat Hopes' under-arm flick.
Hopes and Hogg bowled economically in the middle-overs giving away only 66 runs between them. Bracken (4-29) and Lee (2-55) were the most successful bowlers.
Australia
Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, James Hopes, Michael Clarke, Andrew Symonds, Mike Hussey, Brad Haddin, Brett Lee, Brad Hogg, Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Bracken.
Sri Lanka
Mahela Jayawardene (captain), Dilruwan Perera, Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumara Sangakkara, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chamara Silva, Chamara Kapugedera, Lasith Malinga, Nuwan Kulasekara, Ishara Amerasinghe, Muttiah Muralitharan .  | 
