- Commissioner’s statement on Ventura, Marte
- Ronnie O’Sullivan: Masters champion ‘felt so vulnerable’ in final
- Arron Fletcher Wins 2017 WSOP International Circuit Marrakech Main Event ($140,224)
- Smith challenges Warner to go big in India
- Moncada No. 1 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 10 2B Prospects list
- Braves land 2 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 10 2B Prospects list
- Kingery makes MLB Pipeline’s Top 10 2B Prospects list
- New Zealand wrap up 2-0 after Bangladesh implosion
- Mathews, Pradeep, Gunathilaka to return to Sri Lanka
- Elliott hopes for rain for Poli
Finch, Smith help Australia pass SL spin test
- Updated: August 21, 2016
Australia 228 for 7 (Smith 58, Finch 56, Bailey 39, Dilruwan Perera 3-48) beat Sri Lanka 227 for 8 (Chandimal 80*, Kusal Mendis 67, Faulkner 4-38, Starc 3-32) by three wickets Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Sri Lanka had no fewer than six slow-bowling options – half of them specialists. And by the time Australia batted, the dry Premadasa pitch had begun to bubble and spit. In the Tests, these ingredients had led to humbling defeats for the visitors while the local spinners reaped sackfuls of wickets. But perhaps for the first time on tour, Australia satisfactorily negotiated the spin challenge. The win wasn’t always pretty, but it was comfortable enough. With Aaron Finch and Steven Smith making half centuries, Australia chased down 228 with three wickets and more than three overs to spare.
It had been Australia’s quicks’ discipline that had earlier tethered Sri Lanka to a relatively modest total, even given the difficult conditions. Mitchell Starc took three important wickets as he became the quickest bowler in history to 100 ODI wickets, and James Faulkner inflicted even more damage, delivering a double-wicket maiden upon which Sri Lanka’s innings pivoted, and claiming four wickets for 38 all told.
Faulkner had cajoled Kusal Mendis into a miscued pull early in the 30th over, then had Angelo Mathews athletically caught at point four balls later. When Starc took another wicket soon after, Sri Lanka had slipped from 124 for 2 to 132 for 5, and though Dinesh Chandimal was at the crease through the rest of the innings, Sri Lanka could not muster the 250 which might have represented a winning score.
Starc prospered on a customary full length, and each of his wickets were the result of drawing batsmen into drives. He knocked down Kusal Perera’s off stump in the first over, got Dhananjaya de Silva miscuing a slower ball to claim his 100th wicket, then had …
continue reading in source www.espncricinfo.com
