Sat, 06 Aug 2011 - Sri Lanka vs Australia, Australia Tour of Sri Lanka 2011, 1st T20- Bulletin

Dilshan’s Lanka make easy meal of Australia

Tilkerattne Dilshan bludgeoned his way to a superb century in the first T20 against Australia that propelled his team to a mammoth 198 and the visitors at no point threatened to chase down the total. In the end, Lanka emerged victorious with a margin of 35 runs in the tour opener.

The only thing that went right for Cameron White in the first half was the toss after which he had no hesitation in opting to field in sticky conditions. It was Lanka’s former skipper Jayawardene who set the tone for the current captain with two boundaries in the first two overs. Experienced Brett Lee however cut short his innings with a well directed yorker. Dilshan teed off with an unconvincing top-edge six. But, the next delivery had class written on it as a speedy delivery raced past point into the fence.

Dinesh Chandimal hit two back to back boundaries before a freak dismissal sent him back. He was hustled by the extra pace of Mitchell Johnson and the slippery conditions played their part as the batsmen fell on to his stumps.

Kumar Sangakkara joined Dilshan at 42 for 2 in 5.3 overs and the two got into rebuilding mode cleverly mixing caution with aggression. The duo added 52 in quick time ensuring that the team has some sort of the launch pad for the lower order hitters. Sangakkara’s 30 run brief innings was expectedly full of grace and beauty.

Dilshan till then had ambled to 32 at nearly run-a-ball and gave no hints of turning into a run scoring marauder in matter of few overs. First came out the trademark Dilscoop and the ball flew over the keeper’s head. Jeevan Mendis on the other end kept the scoring rate going with some neat fours. Dilshan unleashed violence on John Hastings taking four boundaries in the sixteenth over. Lee was brought back in the next over with an aim to stem the flow of runs, instead conceded 13 runs.

Shane Watson was made to taste little bit of his own medicine by Dilshan, cluttering the burly all-rounder for two towering maximums and equal number of boundaries. With the runs coming thick and fast, the 160 total was turning into a match-winning one. To his credit Jeevan Mendis played the perfect foil for his skipper scoring 29 of 19 deliveries.

Dilshan repeated the Watson dose on Johnson, in the process bringing up a fabulously paced century that stunned the Australians who were ordinary in bowling as well in fielding, often giving an impression that they had not played top-flight cricket for some time.

Although, the Australian top order was full of power hitters, this chase was not going to be easy given that there was some assistance for the slow bowlers. The opening pair of Watson and Warner were tied down by the SL pacers in the first two overs, the former attempted a loose drive only to have his furniture disturbed. Warner, however, resisted couple of fours and a clean six came off his bat before Shaun Marsh fell LBW to debutant Dilruwan Perera. The chase was derailing fast as wickets fell in quick succession. The debutant Perera made it two by removing Hussey and by the time Australia’s captain, Craig White’s sweep was beaten by a well pitched delivery, the game was heading for a tame end. It was a first match to remember for the offie Perera picking up three top-order batsmen.

For the Kangaroos, David Warner’s 53 was the lone positive in an otherwise listless batting performance. Even though, Johnson and O’ Keefe hit some quick runs down the order, it was too late too little for the visitors. They could manage only 168, falling short by 35 runs.