A picture perfect all-round performance by Sri Lanka sealed a nailbiting 4-run win for Sri Lanka to take an unassailable lead in the 5 match ODI series versus Australia.
After winning the toss and bowling first, Australia managed to restrict Sri Lanka to 258 after Sri Lanka could only score 53 runs in the final 10 overs, as they were bundled out with one over to spare.
For Sri Lanka, Charith Asalanka scored a brilliant maiden ODI century to score 110 off 106 deliveries, which included 10 fours and 1 six. Dhananjaya de Silva, who counterattacked to perfection, scored 60 off 61 deliveries. The pair put together a 101-run stand for the 4th wicket to help Sri Lanka recover from a tricky position of 34/3.
During the chase for the Aussies, David Warner became a huge headache to the Sri Lankan bowlers as he managed to rotate the strike and hit the odd boundary to keep the scoreboard moving. However, a superb stumping by Niroshan Dickwella off de Silva’s bowling gave Sri Lanka the upper hand.
In bowling, nearly all the Sri Lankan bowlers chipped in to push the Australians to the back foot as de Silva, Chamika Karunaratne & Jeffrey Vandersay took 2 wickets each, while Wanindu Hasaranga, Dunith Wellalage, Maheesh Theekshana and Dasun Shanaka took 1 wicket each.
Other than Warner, the rest of the Australian batters failed to contribute in a big way to get Aussies over the line. The Sri Lankan bowlers who bowled superbly and held onto their nerves, bowled their hearts out to give Sri Lanka an ODI series win against Aussies after more than a decade.
This is the 3rd consecutive ODI series win for Sri Lanka, and definitely one of the best wins recently. The 5th and final encounter will take place on the 24th of June, and it will be interesting to see whether Sri Lanka would give some youngsters the opportunity,
Result
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Niroshan Dickwella | st alex carey b Glenn Maxwell | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 33.33 |
| Pathum Nissanka | c alex carey b Mitchell Marsh | 13 | 25 | 2 | 0 | 52.00 |
| Kusal Mendis | b Pat Cummins | 14 | 21 | 1 | 1 | 66.67 |
| dhananjaya de silva | c Glenn Maxwell b Mitchell Marsh | 60 | 61 | 7 | 0 | 98.36 |
| Charith Asalanka | c Aaron Finch b Pat Cummins | 110 | 106 | 10 | 1 | 103.77 |
| Dasun Shanaka | run out () | 4 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 |
| Dunith Wellalage | c David Warner b matthew kuhemann | 19 | 35 | 0 | 0 | 54.29 |
| Chamika Karunaratne | lbw b matthew kuhemann | 7 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 77.78 |
| Wanidu Hasaranga | not out | 21 | 20 | 3 | 0 | 105.00 |
| Jeffery Vandersay | run out () | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Maheesh Theekshana | run out () | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Extras | 9 (b 0 , lb 2 , nb 1, w 6, pen 0) |
| Total | 258/10 (49 Overs, RR: 5.27) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Josh Hazlewood, | 10 | 0 | 45 | 0 | 4.50 | |
| Glenn Maxwell | 8 | 0 | 49 | 1 | 6.12 | |
| matthew kuhemann | 8 | 0 | 56 | 2 | 7.00 | |
| Pat Cummins | 9 | 1 | 37 | 2 | 4.11 | |
| Mitchell Marsh | 7 | 1 | 29 | 2 | 4.14 | |
| Cameron Green | 5 | 0 | 27 | 0 | 5.40 | |
| Marnus Labuschagne | 2 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 6.50 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| David Warner | st Niroshan Dickwella b dhananjaya de silva | 99 | 112 | 12 | 0 | 88.39 |
| Aaron Finch | lbw b Chamika Karunaratne | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Mitchell Marsh | c dhananjaya de silva b Dunith Wellalage | 26 | 27 | 3 | 1 | 96.30 |
| Marnus Labuschagne | lbw b Jeffery Vandersay | 14 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 66.67 |
| alex carey | c Jeffery Vandersay b Wanidu Hasaranga | 19 | 20 | 2 | 0 | 95.00 |
| travis head | b dhananjaya de silva | 27 | 33 | 3 | 0 | 81.82 |
| Glenn Maxwell | lbw b Maheesh Theekshana | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 33.33 |
| Cameron Green | b Jeffery Vandersay | 13 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 52.00 |
| Pat Cummins | lbw b Chamika Karunaratne | 35 | 43 | 2 | 0 | 81.40 |
| matthew kuhemann | c Charith Asalanka b Dasun Shanaka | 15 | 12 | 3 | 0 | 125.00 |
| Josh Hazlewood, | not out | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Extras | 5 (b 0 , lb 1 , nb 1, w 3, pen 0) |
| Total | 254/10 (50 Overs, RR: 5.08) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chamika Karunaratne | 5 | 1 | 19 | 2 | 3.80 | |
| Maheesh Theekshana | 10 | 1 | 40 | 1 | 4.00 | |
| Wanidu Hasaranga | 10 | 0 | 52 | 1 | 5.20 | |
| Dunith Wellalage | 5 | 0 | 29 | 1 | 5.80 | |
| dhananjaya de silva | 10 | 0 | 39 | 2 | 3.90 | |
| Jeffery Vandersay | 7 | 0 | 40 | 2 | 5.71 | |
| Charith Asalanka | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 7.00 | |
| Dasun Shanaka | 2 | 0 | 27 | 1 | 13.50 | |
