Adelaide: Sri Lanka on the back of a superb opening stand of 179 runs between Mahela Jayawardene and Tillakaratne Dilshan defeated Australia by 8 wickets in the second final of the Commonwealth Bank Series. With the win Sri Lanka has ensured that the winner of the series will be decided on Thursday at Adelaide, where the two teams will lock horns for the final time in this series.
Earlier in the day, Australia won the toss and elected to bat on a pitch expected to take some turn in the later-half of the match. David Warner who scored a scintillating century in the previous final was playing with a bit of precaution as Australia started their innings slowly.
They lost Shane Watson in the 16th over with just 56 runs on the board. Then came the Australian captain, Michael Clarke and with him at the crease the run-rate started to increase. Clarke and Warner started to pick up the pace and had a partnership of 186 runs in quick time.
In the process, both Clarke and Warner completed their centuries. Warner fell shortly after completing his second consecutive century as Australia piled up a stiff total of 271 runs.
In reply, Sri Lanka started their innings on a high. Both their openers looked in sublime form and scored above the required run-rate. They capitalised on all the loose deliveries that the Aussie bowlers bowled to them and made their intentions clear. Jayawardene got out in the 28th over and after ensuring that the Lankans will cruise away with the match.
After the fall of the skipper’s wicket, ever reliable Kumar Sangakkara came to the crease and he along with Dilshan took the innings forward. Dilshan got to his century and got out on the score of 234, after the fall of his wicket; Sangakkara along with Chandimal did the formality and took Sri Lanka home.
Brief Score:
Australia: 271/6 (Clarke 117, Warner 100, Malinga 3-40)
Sri Lanka: 274/2 (Dilshan 106, Jayawardene 80, Lee 1-41)
