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Gilchrist`s assault buries Sri Lanka
Monday, 30 January 2006 - 4:35 AM SL Time
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A blistering century, 116 in 105 deliveries, by wicket-keeper and Captain Adam Gilchrist helped Australia outplay Sri Lanka comprehensively by six wickets in the eighth game of the VB tri-series at WACA grounds in Perth yesterday.
Chasing a victory target of 234, the Aussies flourished on a marathon opening wicket stand of 191 (in 32.2 overs) by Gilchrist and Simon Katich (82 in 110 balls to score his second fifty in a row) and were home in 41 overs with the loss of only four wickets. Sri Lanka earlier scored 233 for eight in their allotted fifty overs.
Muttiah Muralitharan, Dilhara Fernando and Chaminda Vaas (best figures with two for 40 in eight overs) sent back four Australian front-liners in 30 runs and in six overs but the opening duo had then already done the damage for the Lankans and put the home tam on a winning platform. Gilchrist made batting very much easy hitting 11 fours and four sixes on his way to his 13th ODI hundred to win the `man of the match` award. He scored his fifty in 44 ball and hundred in 88.
Australian `pacies` did early damage to the Sri Lankan innings, as Sri Lanka elected to bat first after winning the toss, taking wickets in quick succession (three for 27 by the 11th over) and reducing the run rate making them reaching their total of one hundred only in the 26th over of their innings.
If there were a lot of expectations on the experienced Sanath Jayasuriya, they all ended in disappointment as the `dasher` faced only seven balls for a duck before being caught behind off Brett Lee in the third over of the match. Sri Lanka lost Kumar Sangakkara 'run out for six- and Jehan Mubarak for a total of 27 but Mahela Jayawardena (69 in 93 balls) and Russel Arnold (56 in 87) shared 121 runs for the fourth wicket to stabilize the innings and put a sizeable total on the board.
Then debutante, the 18-year-old, Kandy-based right-hander representing CCC, Chamara Kantha Kapugedara (22 off 25), added 54 for the sixth wicket with Tillakaratne Dilshan (35 off 33) but they were unable to set a challenging target for the world champion hosts. Kapugedara was out in the penultimate over of the innings when the total was a modest 225. Sri Lanka suffered due to the lack of regular skipper Marvan Atapattu who is recovering from back spasms. Vaas was the acting Captain.
Sri Lanka will meet South Africa on Tuesday (31) in Perth and will have to beat them to earn a place in the series` final round starting on February 10.
scoreboard
Sri Lanka
S. Jayasuriya c Gilchrist b Lee 0
J. Mubarak c Hodge b Clark 15
K. Sangakkara run out 6
M.Jayawardene c McGrath b Symonds 69
R. Arnold c Clarke b Clark 56
T. Dilshan run out 33
C. Kapugedara c Hogg b Lee 22
C. Vaas not out 6
N. Kulasekara run out 0
M. Muralitharan not out 3
Extras: (lb14, w9) 23
Total (8 wkts) 233
Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-16, 3-27, 4-148, 5-170, 6-224, 7-225, 8-227
Did not bat: D. Fernando
Overs: 50
Bowling: B.Lee 10-0-42-2(1w), G. McGrath 10-2-35-0(1w), S. Clark 10-0-40-2(3w), A. Symonds 10-0-54-1(1w), B. Hogg 10-0-48-0(3w)
Australia
A. Gilchrist c and b Muralitharan 116
S. Katich b Vaas 82
B. Hodge c Sangakkara b Fernando 2
D. Martyn not out 13
A. Symonds c Jayawardene b Vaas 5
M. Clarke not out 9
Extras: (nb5, w4, lb1) 10
Total (4 wkts) 237
Fall of wickets: 1-191, 2-200, 3-209, 4-221
Did not bat: M. Hussey, B. Hogg, B. Lee, S. Clark, G. McGrath
Overs: 41
Bowling: C. Vaas 8-1-39-2, D. Fernando 9-0-52-1(3w, 4nb), Nuwan Kulasekara 8-1-37-0(1w), A. Ganegama 1-0-20-0, M. Muralitharan 10-0-53-1(1nb), T. Dilshan 3-0-24-0, S. Jayasuriya 2-0-11-0
Toss: Sri Lanka
Man of the Match: Adam Gilchrist (AUS)
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