Lankans bowled out of Twenty20 World Cup
Chris DHAMBARAGE Reporting
CRICKET: Sri Lanka crashed out of the ICC Twenty20 World Cup
following a crushing ten wicket defeat at the hands of Australia in
their crucial Super Eight match worked off at the Newlands Stadium in
Cape Town yesterday.
The Lankans never looked like making a match of it in this repeat
final of the ICC World Cup as they crashed to their lowest total in this
shortest version of the game. Their total of 101 runs in 19.3 overs was
incidentally the third lowest score recorded in this tournament.
The Sri Lankan innings simply folded up after they had been put into
bat with Jehan Mubarak hitting a top score of 28 from 26 balls with
three boundaries. But by that time Sri Lanka were virtually out of the
contest after the first six wickets had fallen for a mere 43 runs in the
tenth over of the innings.
The chief wrecker was Australia’s Stuart Clark who produced a man of
the match winning performance to capture four wickets for 20 runs from
his four overs.
The right arm fast medium bowler who has played just two Twenty20
internationals before this tournament picked up the key wickets of Kumar
Sangakkara, Chamara Silva, Tillekeratne Dilshan and Farveez Maharoof.
But the initial damage as done by fast bowler Brett Lee who sent back
Sanath Jayasuriya in the very first over and then followed up by
capturing the wicket of Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardena.
Sri Lanka never got on top of the Australian bowling attack and the
entire innings produced just seven fours - three each from Sangakkara
and Mubarak and one from the bat of Chaminda Vaas.
Stuart Clark really tore the Sri Lankan middle order with a
controlled spell of bowling as he became the fourth bowler in the
competition to claim a four wicket haul after Mark Gillespie (New
Zealand v Kenya), Mohammed Asif (Pakistan v India) and Shahid Afridi
(Pakistan v Scotland).
Clark who was introduced into the attack as the fourth change bowler
lived up to expectations as one of the most economical bowlers of the
tournament by returning the best bowling figures in the history of
Twenty20 cricket. The previous best bowling figures was recorded by Paul
Collingwood (4 for 22) against Sri Lanka at Southampton last year.
The Australians never wasted time in knocking off those runs as they
reached their easy target with ten overs to spare. Mathew Hayden was in
cracking form as he blasted an unbeaten 58 from 38 balls and finished
off the game with his second six of the innings having earlier smashed
seven hits to the ropes.
His partner Adam Gilchrist captaining the side in the absence of
Ricky Ponting was unbeaten on 31 from 25 deliveries with four fours.
Australia now move into the semifinals of the tournament along with
Pakistan from group ‘F’.
CAPE TOWN, Thursday.
SRI LANKA
Upul Tharanga c Lee b Bracken 4
Sanath Jayasuriya lbw b Lee 0
Kumar Sangakkara c Clarke b Clark 22
Mahela Jayawardene c Clark b Lee 1
Chamara Silva c Lee b Clark 6
Tillakaratne Dilshan c Boucher b Clark 3
Jehan Mubarak c Symonds b Watson 28
Farveez Maharoof c Clarke b Clark 0
Chaminda Vaas c Lee b Symonds 21
Lasith Malinga not out 12
Dilhara Fernando c & b Bracken 0
Extras (1lb, 1w, 2nb) 4
TOTAL (19.3 over) 101
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-1, 2-9, 3-11, 4-21, 5-30, 6-43, 7-43, 8-83, 9-99, 10-101.
BOWLING: Brett Lee 4-0-27-2, Nathan Bracken 3.3-0-14-2,
Mitchell Johnson 4-0-18-0 (1w), Stuart Clark 4-0-20-4 (1nb),
Shane Watson 3.2-0-19-1 (1nb), Andrew Symonds 0.4-0-2-1.
AUSTRALIA
Adam Gilchrist not out 31
Matthew Hayden not out 58
Extras (4b, 2lb, 1nb, 6w) 13
TOTAL (for 0 wickets, 10.2 wickets) 102
DID NOT BAT: Brad Hodge, Andrew Symonds, Michael Hussey, Michael Clarke,
Shane Watson, Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson,
Nathan Bracken, Stuart Clark.
BOWLING: Chaminda Vaas 2-0-21-0 (1nb), Dilhara Fernando 3-1-12-0,
Farveez Maharoof 2-0-34-0 (1w), Tillekeratne Dilshan 2-0-13-0 (1w),
Lasith Malinga 1-0-8-0, Jehan Mubarak 0.2-0-8-0.
Umpires: Asad Rauf, Pakistan and Ian Howell, South Africa.
TV umpire: Tony Hill, New Zealand. Match referee: Mike Procter, England. |
