SRI LANKA CLINCH SERIES
Sri Lanka 258 all out (Asalanka 110, de Silva 60, Marsh 2-29, Cummins 2-37, Kuhnemann 2-56) beat Australia 254 all out (Warner 99, Cummins 35, Karunaratne 2-19, de Silva 2-39, Vandersay 2-40) by four runs
Australia seemed to be flying towards their target at one point, but were ambushed by Sri Lanka’s spinners with 70 to get. They limped their way through the late overs, and fought valiantly to take this twisting match to the last ball. But Sri Lanka held on by their fingertips to send a raucous Khettarama into raptures.
Having let what seemed like a comfortable final over become dire by conceding three fours to Australia’s No. 10 Matthew Kuhnemann, Dasun Shanaka bowled a slower ball with five to defend and had the batter sky the ball to Charith Asalanka, who took a comfortable catch at cover.
Sri Lanka’s phalanx of spinners, especially Dhananjaya de Silva and Jeffrey Vandersay, scripted the victory, but the biggest contribution came from the bat of Asalanka, who scored his maiden ODI century after he and de Silva lifted Sri Lanka from 34 for 3 with a century-stand, de Silva making a smooth 60 off 61.
De Silva then claimed two wickets in a crucial middle-overs passage that sucked the air out of Australia’s chase. Among his victims was David Warner, whose 99 off 112 seemed to have set Australia on track for a series-levelling victory.
The four-run win sealed the series 3-1 – Sri Lanka’s first bilateral series victory at
