Australia Beat Sri Lanka To Win CB Series

Clint Mckay’s five wicket haul and some inspired bowling by Brett Lee helped Australia defend a total of 231 against Sri Lanka in the third and decisive final to win the CB Series. Sri Lanka fell short by 16 runs.

Chasing a very getable target of 232, Dilshan fell early. Only after a short recovery, a flurry of wickets around the 50 run mark meant that even before Sri Lanka had gone any significant distance in their run chase, they found themselves four wickets down. The score was 53. Mckay and Lee had pocketed two wickets each. Thirimanne then with Tharanga set about rebuilding the innings. After the partnership was sixty runs strong, Thirimanne fell to Watson. From there on wickets fell at regular intervals while Tharanga stood like a rock at the other end. Mahroof and Tharanga took Sri Lanka to within shouting distance of the target but with Tharanga’s wicket, it was curtains for the Sri Lanka run chase.

Australia while batting had let a good start go waste with a middle order collapse. At 115 for the loss of one wicket in only the 21^st over, Australia looked poised for a big score. But very soon they found themselves reeling at 171 for 7. Eighth wicket partnership of 40 between Lee and Mckay, who later were to work in tandem again with a ball in hand, got Australian total past 200.

This victory in a closely fought series after the clean-sweep in the Test series against India will mark the end of a glorious summer for Australia.