Sri Lanka win final ODI and series 3-0

Jayasuriya player of series:

Chris Dhambarage

CRICKET: Left hander Jehan Mubarak hit a solid half century while Sanath Jayasuriya came out with another match winning performance claiming four late wickets as Sri Lanka completed a three nil clean sweep over Bangladesh winning the third and final one day international by 39 runs at the R. Premadasa Stadium yesterday.

Middle order batsman Mubarak hit a top score of 72 to help Sri Lanka reach 196 from their restricted 40 overs after been put into bat and later veteran Sanath Jayasuriya returned outstanding figures of four wickets for 14 runs to dismiss Bangladesh for 157 runs in the 38th over.

Teenage left handed opening batsman Tamim Iqbal provided a brief resistance for Bangladesh with a 74 ball 54, but the rest of the batsmen wilted under pressure. Iqbal who batted with the aid of a runner during the latter stages of his innings hoisted one six and stroked three boundaries before becoming Jayasuriya’s first victim.

Jayasuriya who took the man of the series award then followed up by capturing the wicket of the dangerous Farhad Reza before striking twice in successive deliveries in his third over that completely sealed the game in Sri Lanka’s favour. However the fast bowlers conceded too many extra runs during the initial stages and gave away a total of 22 wides.

The Sri Lankan innings was built around a solid half century from left hander Jehan Mubarak who played the sheet anchor role with a top score of 72. This was in fact the first real chance that Mubarak received in the entire one day series to prove his capabilities.

In the first one day at the P. Saravanamuttu Stadium Mubarak remained unbeaten on 22 as Sri Lanka finished their 50 overs on 234 for 6. Then in the second one day match he could not even open his account as the Lankans reached their target scoring 141 for 5.

But yesterday the situation was tailor-made for Mubarak who came into the crease at the fall of Sri Lanka’s third wicket for 44 runs. The pressure was certainly on him because Sri Lanka had lost three of their top batsmen Sanath Jayasuriya, Upul Tharanga and Chamara Kapugedera quite cheaply.

Man of the match Mubarak’s initial game plan was to repair the early damage as the middle order had been exposed at a very early stage of the innings. But the pressure seem to be building more and the responsibility turned entirely on his shoulders with Kumar Sangakkara also making his exit for just 18 runs.

However Mubarak was prepared to stay at the crease even though wickets tumbled at the other end as Sri Lanka slumped to 61 for 4 by the 19th over. Mubarak found an ideal partner in Tillekeratne Dilshan with the pair putting on a useful 68 runs for the fifth wicket.

Dilshan of course survived few anxious moments but managed to make a good contribution of 39 runs from 34 balls with two boundaries. In contrast Mubarak played some fluent strokes on either side of the wicket and it was his individual effort that really helped the Lankans get closer to the two hundred run mark.

Even then he may be somewhat disappointed that he could not finish off the things on a bright note having sacrificed his wicket in the last over of the innings. Mubarak was run out for a well compiled 72 runs while making a desperate attempt to get back into strike.

But by that time he had performed his role quite admirably where he completed his third one day international half century from 83 balls and with the help of five boundaries. His contribution was quite a significant one for Sri Lanka considering the fact that only three other batsmen succeeded in entering double figures.

In fact Sri Lanka had an awful start as both Jayasuriya and Tharanga both were let off following some floppy fielding by the Bangladesh side. They never looked comfortable against the Bangladesh pace attack and fell victims while attempting to accelerate the scoring rate.

Skipper Jayawardena batting low down the order made his intentions clear from the start but never looked like getting on top of the bowling. Mahmudullah chipped in with two wickets including that of Upul Chandana who was caught brilliantly by Iqbal near the boundary, the only bright spot in an otherwise disappointing display by the visitors.

The match was reduced to 40 overs a side after overnight rain delayed the scheduled start by two hours and 15 minutes. Sri Lanka made three changes to the side that won the second one dayer on Monday to clinch the series 2-0 while resting seamer Lasith Malinga, middle order batsman Chamara Silva and spinner Malinga Bandara.

The trio were replaced by Chamara Kapugedera, Upul Chandana and Nuwan Kulasekara. Bangladesh dropped Shahriar Nafees and Tushar Imran to bring in Javed Omar and uncapped Mohammad Mahmudullah.

SRI LANKA

S. Jayasuriya c Rahim b Shahadat 8

U. Tharanga lbw b Rasel 14

K. Sangakkara c Tamim b Razzaq 18

C. Kapugedera c sub(M. Hossain)b Reza 7

J. Mubarak run out 72

T. Dilshan b Mahmudullah 39

M. Jayawardene c Rahim b Shakib 20

F. Maharoof lbw b Razzaq 1

U. Chandana c Tamim b Mahmudullah 1

N. Kulasekara not out 1

D. Fernando b Razzaq 0

EXTRAS: (b1, lb8, w5, nb1) 15

TOTAL 196

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-27 (Jayasuriya), 2-29 (Tharanga), 3-44 (Kapugedera), 4-61 (Sangakkara), 5-139 (Dilshan), 6-171 (Jayawardene), 7-179 (Maharoof), 8-191 (Chandana), 9-191 (Mubarak).

BOWLING: Rasel 8-3-18-1, Shahadat 5-0-23-1 (1nb, 2w), Reza 6-1-28-1 (1w), Razzak 7.5-0-47-3 (1w), Shakib 8-0-43-1 (1w), Mahmudullah 5-0-28-2.

BANGLADESH

J. Omar c Jayawardene b Maharoof 0

T. Iqbal c Kapugedera b Jayasuriya 54

M. Rahim c Sangakkara b Maharoof 0

M. Ashraful lbw b Kulasekara 20

S. Al Hasan c Sangakkara b Fernando 2

A. Ahmed c Sangakkara b Kulasekara 3

M. Mahmudullah c Chandana b Jayasuriya 36

F. Reza b Jayasuriya 7

A. Razzaq c Chandana b Jayasuriya 3

S. Hossain b Fernando 3

Syed Rasel not out 2

Extras: (b3, lb1, w22, nb1) 27

TOTAL 157

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-0 (Omar), 2-11 (Rahim), 3-53 (Ashraful), 4-63 (Shakib), 5-69 (Ahmed), 6-129 (Tamim), 7-142 (Reza), 8-151 (Mamudullah), 9-151 (Razzaq).

BOWLING: Maharoof 8-0-40-2 (9w), Fernando 7.1-0-35-2 (1nb, 8w), Kulasekara 7-2-17-2 (4w), Chandana 7-0-28-0 (1w), Dilshan 4-0-19-0, Jayasuriya 4-0-14-4.

Man of the match: Jehan Mubarak (SRI)

Man of the series: Sanath Jayasuriya (SRI)

Umpires: Asoka de Silva (SRI) and Rudi Koertzen (RSA)