Sri Lanka Beat Australia To Push CB Series Into Decider

Sri Lanka beat Australia in the second final of the CB series by 8 wickets today. With the win Sri Lanka leveled the three match finals to push the series into a decider.

Chasing a competitive total of 272, Sri Lanka got off to a flying start with Dilshan and Jayawadena showing positive intent. The Australian bowling was wayward in the initial overs and the aggressive strokeplay by the openers never allowed them to maintain a control on the scoring. By the time the Sri Lankan skipper got out for 80, the pair had already added 179 runs in only 27 overs. Sangakkara who came at the fall of the wicket, played sensibly ensuring that wickets didn’t fall in a heap. Dilshan reached the second century of series in the 36^th over before falling for 106 with the target well within the reach. Sangakkara hit the winning runs which brought up his half-century.

Earlier in the day after winning the toss on the slow Adelaide wicket, the returning skipper, Clarke decided to bat first. The top order looked scrappy against some disciplined bowling attack. After the early wicket of Wade, Sri Lankan bowlers kept the Australian batsmen under tight leash, but their sloppy fielding meant that they let the advantage slip away. When Watson fell Australia had scored only 56 in the first 15 overs. Clarke and Watson then batted steadily slowly increasing the run-rate bringing up their hundreds in due course. Their 186 run partnership and some late hitting ensured that Australia reach a total of 271.

If only Clarke had paid a closer attention to recent results at this ground, he would have realized that if only he had made a decision to field after the toss of the coin fell his way, he could have been holding the CB Series trophy at the end of the match.