Australia beat Sri Lanka by 53 runs in a match that was reduced to a farce of 36 overs.
Play started nearly three hours late because of rain and the Lankan innings was marred by persistent rain and they had to play many of their overs in virtual darkness.
The Aussies, having won the toss, batted first under clear skies and the flat wicket, lacking in swing and bounce, offered no assistance to the Lankan bowlers. Even then Malinga bowled superbly and in the context of the match his two wickets for 49 are remarkable.
Despite pre-match indications that Maharoof would play the selectors kept faith with Dilhara whose 8 overs cost 74 runs for the sole wicket of Gilchrist. Sri Lanka could have done with Maharoof’s batting when chasing the target but Gilchrist’s innings of 149 runs off 104 effectively sealed the match in favour of the Aussies.
A spirited partnership between Jayasuriya and Sangakkara gave the Lankans reason to smile and at one stage the target appeared well within their reach but persistent drizzles and interruptions did not help and slowed down the tempo just when they were going along nicely. With dark clouds looming above the Kensington Oval, the Lankans were compelled to take risks to keep ahead of the Duckworth-Lewis run rate. Jayasuriya did just that and was bowled trying to take a mighty swipe at Clarke.
Shortly after his dismissal play was interrupted at the end of 24 overs. Soon after it resumed Jayawardene was out leg before to a poor umpiring decision and with him went Lanka’s hopes of reaching the target. TV replays showed the ball would have missed the leg stump.
With three overs remaining the umpires offered light to the batsman which they accepted but the match officials did not declare a result and to bring the proceedings to an end both sides were forced to go through the motions for the remaining overs.
One of the moments of the match was Sangakkara declining a catch when he dived low to his left and appeared to have held on to a catch from behind, something that would have normally got the commentators applaud it as an example of sportsmanship but we did not hear any mention of it. The Aussies returned the compliment by sledging Jayasuriya for not walking when he was not given out to a leg before appeal.
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