The Aussie batsmen floundered against incisive seam and swing bowling and then the home fielders chased leather under the lights. The host was pounded at the Sydney Cricket Ground here on Friday.
Sri Lanka, under pressure before the game, crushed Australia by eight wickets to win by a bonus point amidst beating of the drums and dancing by its supporters here in the Commonwealth Bank ODI triangular series.
Chasing 152 after rain reduced the contest to 41-overs-per-innings duel, the Sri Lankans romped home in the 25th over. The pacemen set up the victory and then skipper Mahela Jayawardene, opening the innings and leading from the front, remained unbeaten with a pristine 61. His footwork was sure and touch deft.
All three teams have now played four matches each — India has 10 points, Australia nine and Sri Lanka seven.
Vulnerability exposed
Australia was dismissed for 158 (the target was reduced to 152 after Duckworth and Lewis calculations) its lowest ODI score at the venue since 1997. Once again, the vulnerability of the Aussie batsmen when the ball moves around was exposed after Ricky Ponting, in a contentious move, elected to bat.
In the evening, the Sri Lankan openers fired with Tillakaratne Dilshan launching into the Australian bowlers. When Dilshan is on song, it is hard for the bowlers to find the right length. He can strike hard with hand-eye coordination. Dilshan is also capable of moving his feet well, either front or back.
Dilshan whipped Starc disdainfully over sqaure-leg for a six. Then, in the fifth over of the innings, he blazed Brett Lee for three successive fours as the paceman's ploy of pitching short boomeranged.
Meanwhile, Jayawardene, his mind and feet in harmony, gloriously off-drove Starc to the fence. A natural timer of the ball, he found the gaps with fluency and ease.
The openers had put on 74 in only 11.4 overs when Dilshan (45 off 41) nicked a delivery outside off from Clint McKay to be held in the slips.
Seasoned pair
Kumar Sangakkara joined Jayawardene. And this seasoned left-right combination tormented the Aussies further. Sangakkara's straight-drive off Lee was clinical.
Soon, Sangakkara became only the third Sri Lankan — Sanath Jayasuriya and Jayawardene being the others — to reach 10,000 runs in ODIs.
Sri Lanka took the batting Power Play in the 22nd over but Sangakkara's little gem (30 off 29) came to an end when he miscued an attempted on-side blast off Lee. Not much later, Sri Lanka celebrated a rollicking win.
Only a 49-run ninth-wicket association between David Hussey (58, 64b, 6x4) and Mitchell Starc took Australia past 150. The Aussies were also helped by the Sri Lankan fielding and catching which was like a curate's egg. Amid flashes of brilliance, there were misfields and dropped catches.
Hussey, on eight, was put down at third man by Lasith Malinga off Thisara Perera. He received another reprieve on 33 when Angelo Mathews grassed one at short cover off Malinga.
The right-handed Hussey made the Sri Lankans pay with pulls and firm drives between cover and mid-wicket. There is a fluidity about Hussey's batting that is hard to ignore.
Hussey was eventually picked up in the sweeper cover off Man-of-the-Match Perera but he had given the Aussie pacemen something to bowl at.
Three all-rounders
Conditions often dictate the eleven and a tinge of green on the surface, a cloud cover and the prospect of rain forced the Sri Lankans to include five pacemen — three of them, Mathews, Farveez Maharoof and Perera are all-rounders — in the eleven.
The heavy atmosphere encouraged swing and there was seam movement off the pitch too for the pacemen. Malinga lacked accuracy but managed to take out the dangerous David Warner with a slower delivery.
Maharoof does not employ his non-bowling arm much — there is hardly any rock-back — but the all-rounder managed to move the ball around tellingly from a good wrist position. He also mixed his pace admirably.
The out-of-form Ponting, playing at No. 3, was bamboozled by a delivery lacking in speed from Maharoof. More trouble was in store for the Aussies. Perera, after an acrobatic stop at short cover, combined with bowler Nuwan Kulasekara to run out Matthew Wade.
The left-handed Michael Hussey attempted to cut a Mathews delivery — too close to his body for the stroke — and nicked to 'keeper Sangakkara.
Sri Lanka, with effective seam and swing bowling, continued to build pressure. Peter Forrest, playing away from his body, perished trying to dab a delivery that held its line from Maharoof. Australia had lost half its side for 74 in the 25th over and the Sri Lankans were full of beans.
Daniel Christian departed soon when he played across a Perera delivery that nipped back to be at the receiving end of a marginal leg-before decision.
The Aussie innings was in a mess at 88 for six when rain came down after the 26th over. When play resumed after the break, David Hussey orchestrated a recovery of sorts. This, though, was too little too late for the hosts.
