Gilchrist pilots Aussies to victory

Ranjan ANANDAPPA in Australia

Sri Lanka’s chances of entering the final of the Comonwealth Bank limited over series gradually receded when they handed over an easy 63 run win to Australia in the sixth match of the series played at the WACA Stadium in Perth under lights yesterday.

237 runs to win in 50 overs on a good batting track with a fast outfield was always within the Sri Lankans reach but besides Kumar Sangakkara who played a firm and sensible innings of 80 and last man out after batting at number three the rest gave an woeful batting display.

With the win Australia top the table with a bonus point (12) and India second with (8) points and Sri Lanka hitting the bottom with (6) points. However, Sri Lanka has four more matches, two against Australia and two more against India. If they are to make any impact in the tournament their batsmen should give a much more improved display.

The Sri Lankan openers got off to a flurry of a start when Dilshan hit Brett Lee’s first ball to the square leg boundary and they put on 29 runs. With the dismissal of both Jayasuriya and Dilshan within the space of 35 runs in the fifth over Sri Lanka probably lost their way and surrendered meekly to the pace and accuracy of the Australian pace bowlers.

Sangakkara with Kapugedera repaired the innings to a certain extent. Kapugedera batted fluently for a while with Sangakkara, If ever there was an opportunity for Kapugedera to prove beyond doubt that he was an essential part of the Sri Lanka team this was an opportunity surely not to be missed, but after adding 53 runs with Sangakkara, with Kapugedara’s personnel score 26 he holed out a catch to Michael Hussey after bringing the score from 76 to 129.

While Sangakkara lived, there were hopes in the Sri Lankan camp, but the later batsmen failed to give the necessary support. Mahela Jayawardena was out for 21, Chamara Silva was beautifully snapped up by Symonds in the covers while driving, Vaas trying to play an ambitious shot skied one to be caught by Gilchrist and Kulasekera had to survive a hat trick ball when Hogg struck twice in succession.

Adam Gilchrist made the entire WACA Stadium erupt in jubilation when he struck his 16th ODI hundred in front of his home crowd and his family for the last time in his favourite grounds and in the process extracted his side from a deep hole.

Gilchrist (118) precisely scored fifty pe rcent of the Australian score of (236) when the Sri Lankan fast bowlers restricted the much vaunted Aussie batting line up with the fast bowlers sticking to their guns. Skipper Mahela Jayawardena skillfully manupilated his fast bowlers as Malinga in particular who captured four wickets for 47 in his 9.4 overs was the destroyer in chief.

Days before the match began the focus was more on Gilchrist and a crowd of 20000 gathered to witness Gilchrist in his farewell match and he not only obliged his fans but also helped Australia single handedly to the final destination of 236.

Gilchrist with wickets falling around him at regular intervals stood firm and batted with determination, Besides Michael Clark who struck 43 and added 103 runs for the third wicket, Gilchrist did not have a great deal of support from the others. His innings contained nine fours and three sixes facing 132 deliveries.

He had a slice of luck when he was dropped by Kapugedera when he had reached 118, but the dropped catch did not make much of a difference, one run later Kapugedera accepted a straight forward catch at mid wicket. Mahela switched his pacemen from one end to another successfully. He did not opt for spin besides Muralitharan.

The pacemen obliged the skipper at crucial stages. Hayden and Ponting were out in rapid succession. After Ponting, Maharoof had Symonds brilliantly caught by Sangakkara at the score of 177 in the 38th over.

Sangakkara also accounted for a brilliant stump to get rid of Michael Clark who was batting sensibly with Gilchrist.

AUSTRALIA

A. Gilchrist c Kapugedera b Malinga		118
M. Hayden c Maharoof b Malinga			  4
R. Ponting c Jayawardene b Vaas			 25
M. Clarke st Sangakkara b Muralitharan 		 43
A. Symonds c Sangakkara b Maharoof		  4
M. Hussey c Jayawardene b Kulasekera   		 25
J. Hopes c Jayasuriya b Kulasekera		  2
B. Hogg b Malinga				  5
B. Lee b Malinga			 	  2
M. Johnson run out				  0
N. Bracken not out			 	  1

EXTRAS: (1b, 1lb, 1nb, 4w) 			  7
TOTAL:						236
Fall: 16 (Hayden), 66 (Ponting), 171 (Clarke), 177 (Symonds),
      206 (Gilchrist), 217 (Hopes), 232 (Hogg), 232 (Hussey), 233 (Johnson), 236 (Lee).
Bowling: Vaas 10-0-35-1, Malinga 9.4-1-47-4 (3w), Maharoof 10-0-53-1 (1nb, 1w),
	 Kulasekara 10-0-52-2, Muralitharan 10-0-47-1.

Overs: 49.4


SRI LANKA
T. Dilshan b Johnson				 11
S. Jayasuriya c Hopes b Bracken			 12
K. Sangakkara b Lee				 80
M. Jayawardene c Ponting b Johnson	 	 21
C. Silva c Symonds b Bracken			  0
C. Kapugedera c Hussey b Hopes			 26
F. Maharoof c sub (Haddin) b Hogg		  7
C. Vaas c Gilchrist b Hogg	 		  0
N. Kulasekera c Symonds b Bracken		  0
L. Malinga b Johnson			  	  5  
M. Muralitharan not out				  0

EXTRAS: (7lb, 1nb, 3w)				 11
TOTAL:						173
Fall:29 (Jayasuriya), 35 (Dilshan), 71 (Jayawardene), 76 (Silva),
     129 (Kapugedera), 159 (Maharoof), 159 (Vaas), 160 (Kulasekera),
     173 (Malinga), 173 (Sangakkara).
Bowling: Lee 8.3-0-49-1 (1nb), Bracken 8-2-21-3 (1w), Johnson 10-2-29-3 (1w),
         Hopes 9-1-26-1, Hogg 10-1-41-2 (1w).

Overs: 45.3