Australian bowler Nathan Bracken starred as his side thrashed Sri Lanka by 128 runs in a World Cup final rerun in the tri-series competition here Friday. The home side made 253 for six after winning the toss and electing to bat and the Sri Lankans were never in the hunt after losing two early wickets, making a paltry 125.
It was the first time the sides had met in a one-day international since Australia's win in last year's World Cup final and although Kumar Sangakkara offered some brief hope in the run chase with a sparkling 42 from 41 balls, once he fell the tourists collapsed dramatically.
Sangakkara was in peak form, taking 16 runs off one Brett Lee over, but was trapped LBW by a delivery that jagged back off the pitch and into his pads from impressive swing bowler Nathan Bracken.
The Sri Lankans were then 74 for four and when Chamara Silva (7) and Chamara Kapugedera (0) went quickly, they had lost three wickets for 10 runs in just 14 balls and never recovered.
Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene admitted his top order batsmen simply didn't do enough. "We lost too many wickets up front and we are very disappointed with the performance," he said. "We haven't been very consistent with our one-day form and we've been talking about it quite a bit.
"We thought we were getting back into it, but today was a very disappointing day. "Against these guys you have to play A-grade cricket." Australian captain Ricky Ponting said he always felt confident after his team's innings.
"I thought 250 batting first on that wicket was a pretty good total and our batsmen adapted really well," he said. "Michael Clarke played a really sensible knock, not taking too many risks and making sure he was there at the end.
"I knew our bowlers would be able to take the pace off the ball and use the seam on the ball and Nathan Bracken did a great job of doing that." On a slow pitch that suited his clever changes of pace, Bracken was the destroyer, claiming five wickets in 8.3 overs for career-best figures.
He removed opener Upul Tharanga (10) in his first spell and returned to claim the wickets of Sangakkara, kapugedera and Tillakaratne Dilshan (14) in quick succession as Sri Lanka slumped to 93 for seven.
Bracken later dismissed Muttiah Muralitharan to end the Sri Lankan innings and claim just his second five-wicket haul in one-day internationals. Sri Lanka's woes were summed up by the dismissal of tailender Lasith Malinga, who was run out in bizarre fashion for two.
Malinga slid his bat into the apparent safety of the crease at the non-striker's end as Andrew Symonds' throw at the stumps came in, but then dropped his bat and had both feet in the air when the ball hit the stumps. The decision went to the third umpire and he was duly given out. Earlier, half-centuries to Michael Clarke and Adam Gilchrist had provided the foundation for the Australian total.
SCOREBOARD:
AUSTRALIA:
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A. Gilchrist lbw Kapugedera 61
M. Hayden c Jayawardene b Amerasinghe 42
R. Ponting c Jayawardene b Vaas 9
M. Clarke not out 77
A. Symonds c Kapugedara b Vaas 12
M. Hussey c Dilshan b Amerasinghe 10
J. Hopes c Dilshan b Malinga 34
B. Lee not out 0
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Extras: (2lb, 6w) 8
Total: (for six wickets) 253
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Fall: 65 (Hayden), 88 (Ponting), 139 (Gilchrist), 160 (Symonds), 190 (Hussey).
Bowling: Vaas 10-1-34-2, Malinga 10-0-55-1, Amerasinghe 10-0-66-2, Muralitharan 10-0-42-0, Kapugedera 10-0-54-1.
SRI LANKA:
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U. Tharanga c Gilchrist b Bracken 10
S. Jayasuriya b Lee 7
K. Sangakkara lbw Bracken 42
M. Jayawardene c Gilchrist b Johnson 6
C. Silva c Gilchrist b Hogg 7
T. Dilshan c Lee b Bracken 14
C. Kapugedera c Hayden b Bracken 0
C. Vaas run out 18
L. Malinga run out 2
M. Muralitharan c Symonds b Bracken 11
I. Amerasinghe not out 0
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Extras: (3lb, 4w, 1nb) 8
Total: 125
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Fall: 18 (Jayasuriya), 18 (Tharanga), 57 (Jayawardene), 74 (Sangakkara), 81 (Silva), 84 (Kapugedera), 93 (Dilshan), 105 (Malinga), 114 (Vaas), 125 (Muralitharan).
Bowling: Lee 7-1-34-1 (1nb, 1w), Bracken 8.3-1-46-5 (1w), Johnson 5-3-9-1, Hopes 5-0-16-0, Hogg 6-1-17-1 (1w).
Overs: 31.3
Result: Australia won by 128 runs
Man of the match: N. Bracken (AUS)
Toss: Australia
Umpires: Tony Hill (NZL), Simon Taufel (AUS)
TV umpire: Peter Parker (AUS)
Match referee: Jeff Crowe (NZL).
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