2007 Cricket World Cup: Australia vs Sri Lanka

From Wikinews
April 16, 2007

Australia have beaten Sri Lanka by seven wickets in the Super 8 phase of the World Cup at Queen's Park, St. George's, Grenada. Both teams had qualified for the semi-final stage of the competition before the match.

Sri Lanka faltered early in their innings, struggling to 27-3. Silva (64) and Jayawardene (72) shared a fourth-wicket partnership of 140 to help Sri Lanka to 167-4. However wickets fell regularly after that, losing their next five wickets for just 17 runs, before Bandara and Maharoof's late stand of 34. Nathan Bracken was the pick of the Australian bowlers, taking 4/19.

Australia were never troubled by the modest target and a bowling attack missing Muttiah Muralitharan, Chaminda Vaas and Lasith Malinga. They reached the target of 227 in 42.4 overs for the loss of just three wickets. Ricky Ponting was Australia's top scorer with 66 off 80 balls while Andrew Symonds scored 63 off 71 balls. Sri Lanka's best bowling performance came from Russel Arnold with 2/20.

Toss: Sri Lanka won, and elected to bat first.
Sri Lanka innings
Player Status Runs Balls 4s 6s Strike rate
Upul Tharanga c Hayden b Bracken 6 22 0 0 27.27
Sanath Jayasuriya lbw b Bracken 12 12 2 0 100.00
Kumar Sangakkara lbw b McGrath 0 4 0 0 0.00
Mahela Jayawardene st Gilchrist b Hogg 72 88 5 1 81.81
Chamara Silva c Clarke b Hogg 64 107 6 0 59.81
Tillakaratne Dilshan c Hodge b Tait 7 12 0 0 58.33
Russel Arnold b Tait 3 10 0 0 30.00
Farveez Maharoof c Symonds b Bracken 25 22 4 0 113.63
Nuwan Kulasekara c Hayden b Bracken 1 5 0 0 20.00
Malinga Bandara c Hogg b McGrath 17 19 0 2 89.47
Dilhara Fernando not out 0 0 0 0
Extras (lb 5, w 11, nb 3) 19
Total (all out; 49.4 overs) 226 17 3

Fall of wickets: 1-26 (Jayasuriya, 4.3 ov), 2-27 (Sangakkara, 5.3 ov), 3-27 (Tharanga, 6.4 ov), 4-167 (Silva, 37.2 ov), 5-174 (Jayawardene, 39.4 ov), 6-178 (Dilshan, 41.0 ov), 7-183 (Arnold, 42.4 ov), 8-184 (Kulasekara, 43.3 ov), 9-218 (Bandara, 49.0 ov), 10-226 (Maharoof, 49.4 ov)
Australia bowling
Bowler Overs Maiden Runs Wicket(s) Econ
Nathan Bracken 9.4 3 19 4 1.96
Shaun Tait 10 0 68 2 6.80
Glenn McGrath 9 1 48 2 5.33
Brad Hogg 10 0 35 2 3.50
Andrew Symonds 3 0 15 0 5.00
Michael Clarke 8 0 36 0 4.50
Australia innings (Target: 227 from 50 overs)
Player Status Runs Balls 4s 6s Strike rate
Adam Gilchrist lbw b Arnold 30 49 4 0 61.22
Matthew Hayden c Dilshan b Arnold 41 30 5 2 136.66
Ricky Ponting not out 66 80 4 1 82.50
Michael Clarke c Dilshan b Bandara 23 31 4 0 74.19
Andrew Symonds not out 63 71 5 2 88.73
Extras (w 4, nb 5) 9
Total (3 wickets; 42.4 overs) 232 22 5

Fall of wickets: 1-76 (Hayden, 11.5 ov), 2-79 (Gilchrist, 13.3 ov), 3-126 (Clarke, 23.1 ov)

Did not bat: B J Hodge, M E K Hussey, G B Hogg, N W Bracken, S W Tait, G D McGrath
Sri Lanka bowling
Bowler Overs Maiden Runs Wicket(s) Econ
Dilhara Fernando 6 1 36 0 6.00
Farveez Maharoof 7 0 52 0 7.42
Nuwan Kulasekara 4 0 20 0 5.00
Russel Arnold 4 0 20 2 5.00
Malinga Bandara 9.4 0 53 1 5.48
Sanath Jayasuriya 6 0 32 0 5.33
Tillakaratne Dilshan 6 0 19 0 3.16

Australia: A C Gilchrist (wkt), M L Hayden, R T Ponting (capt), M J Clarke, B J Hodge, M E K Hussey, A Symonds, G B Hogg, N W Bracken, S W Tait, G D McGrath
Sri Lanka: W U Tharanga, S T Jayasuriya, K C Sangakkara (wkt), D P M D Jayawardene (capt), L P C Silva, T M Dilshan, R P Arnold, M F Maharoof, K M D N Kulasekara, C M Bandara, C R D Fernando

Player of the match: N W Bracken (Australia)

Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pakistan) and B R Doctrove (West Indies)
TV umpire: M R Benson (England)
Match referee: M J Procter (South Africa)
Reserve umpire: D J Harper (Australia)