Chasing a target of 222 for victory Australians bundled out for 208 to give Sri Lanka a consolation win in their last league match at MCG. Austrlians started their run chase in great fashion especially Adam Gilchrist who hit quick fire fifty in just 35 balls with four 4's and one huge six.
James Hopes (28 runs of 42 balls) on the other end playing sensible cricket and with Gilchrist (83 runs of 50 balls) he put on 107 runs in 14.4 overs. Once Adam Gilchrist was dismissed Australia batsman followed one another and from 107 without loss they were reduced to 142/7. With Ricky Ponting manage to add just 1 runs to his account, M.Clark and A.Symonds both departed without troubling the scorer. M.Hussey and B.Haddin also manage just 5 and 7 runs respectively.
Six wickets went for 16 runs between the 14th and the 24th over as Sri Lankan seamers, Nuwan Kulasekara and Ishara Amerasinghe, turned the screws on the Aussies.
However B.Hogg (21 runs of 35 balls), B.Lee (37 runs of 59 balls) and N.Bracken(14* of 26 balls) kept Australia in the hunt till 48th over before S.Jayasurya wrapp up the Australian innings when he bowled B.Lee on very first ball of 49th over.
Earlier Sri Lankan captain M.Jayawardne won the toss and decided to bat first. However there opener once again fail to give the team start they were looking for. Sri Lanka had lost their first four batsmen with just 61 on the board. However, Dilshan shared a 64-run stand with skipper Jayawardene (50), and later put together a 60-run partnership with Chamara Silva, who got a useful 35, to help Sri Lanka put up a competitive score of 221 in 50 overs.
Dilshan (62) looked like getting Sri Lanka close to the 250-run mark until he lost his wicket going for a cheeky single, failing to beat Hopes' under-arm flick.
N.Bracken was pick-of the bowler taking four wickets for just 29 runs in his quota of 10 overs while Brett Lee picked two wicket. M.Johnson, J.Hopes and B.Hogg bagged one wicket each.
Match Summary
Sri Lanka – 221/10 in 50 Overs
T.Dilshan– 62M.Jayawardene– 52
N.Bracken – 10-3-29-4B.Lee- 10-1-55-2
Australia – 208/10 in 48.1 Overs
A.Gilchrist– 83B.Lee – 37
I.Amarsinghe – 10-2-44-3N.Kulasekara- 10-3-36-2
Highlights - Australia Vs Sri Lanka 12th ODI CB Series
