Sun, 14 Aug 2011 - Sri Lanka vs Australia, Australia Tour of Sri Lanka 2011, 2nd ODI - Bulletin

Clinical Australia take 2-0 lead

Thanks to their all-round bowling performance Australia bowled out the hosts for a gettable 208 and then followed up with a superb batting show to take 2-0 lead in the five match series. More or less, the second ODI panned out the same way as the series opener. A clinical bowling effort was again backed by a comfortable run chase with tourists cruising home with a eight wicket victory.

It was Ricky Ponting who led the run chase with an unbeaten 90 and Michael Clarke scoring a neat 58 as the former and current added 107 for the third wicket to reach the target in 39th over. It was Ponting’s, who also scored a fifty in the first ODI, most fluent in recent times unleashing his trademark square drives and pull shots to put his team’s chase on course right from the moment he came to crease. He was at his aggressive best against seamers and batted sensibly against spinners hitting gaps for singles and two’s. Clarke, as he often does, used his feet to attack spinners making sure not an inch was given to the home team. Shane Watson continued his dream run with bat hammering a quickfire 43.

Brad Haddin had second failure of the series edging Nuwan Kulasekera early in the piece to give Sri Lanka some hope. The arrival of Ponting changed things quickly though. The legendary batsman found his touch soon caressing the ball through square point ever so non-chalantly. If timing on the slowish surface was of top notch, his placement of equal match as five men ring on the off-side was threaded without much of a fuss. He drove magnificently and him hooking Kulasekera into the mid-wicket stands was just confirmation of him returning to top form.

Watson unusually had slow start and at one point was outscored by Ponting. Things though changed quickly when he hit a six and three fours in a quick time before castled by searing Yorker from Lasith Malinga to bring an end to brisk 95 run partnership.

Ponting wasn’t bothered though. He brought up his fifty off 63 balls and Clarke upped the tempo hitting spinners over the top. Clarke hit four boundaries and a six in his 67-ball 58 and his predecessor Ponting’s sublime 90 were punctuated with eight fours and a six.Emulating their superb performance with the ball led by Mitchell Johnson in the series opener, Australian seamers posed problems for the home team batsmen on a spin friendly surface Hambantota to restrict Sri Lanka to a below par 208. Left arm pacer Doug Bollinger was the hero with the ball claiming three Sri Lankan batters while Johnson and Brett Lee snared a brace each. Slow left arm Xavier Doherty gave a good account of himself second time around dismissing Mahela Jayawerdena without conceding many in his ten over spell.

Save a fighting fifty from former skipper Kumar Sangakkara and a decent contribution from Kulasekera late in the order, most of the Sri Lankan batsmen. The left hander was involved with only 50 plus stand of the innings in Angelo Mathews’ company but once he was holed out in the deep off part-timer David Hussey it was curtains to any chances of home team scoring a defendable total. Sangakkara-Mathews stand had lifted their side from 77 for 4 to 140 in 37th over but Sangakkara’s departure and Bollinger’s terrific spell hit the home team.

As had been case on Wednesday, Tilkerratne Dilshan opted to have first use of the pitch and he and opening partner Upul Tharanaga gave their side a brisk start. Dilshan cracked four boundaries in his 23-ball 24 knock before Lee snuck one through the big gap between bat and bad to have Sri Lankan skipper’s middle stump disturbed. It didn’t take Johnson long to open his account forcing Tharanaga to glove a short delivery that didn’t bounce much as batsman would have liked. The home team was reduced to 41 for 2 in the 11th over.

The senior statesmen Sangakkara and Jayawerdena added 33 for the third wicket and Lanka would have hoped for the duo to continue on. Doherty and Bollinger had other ideas though. After frustrating Mahela with his accurate bowling, Mahela was forced into a big sweep outside off but only managed to get it as far deep square leg’s lap. It went from bad to worse for the home team, when Bollinger drew young Dinesh Chandimal to edge a slant across the right-hander ball on its way to Haddin behind the stumps and Australia had Sri Lank on the backfoot with four wickets gone for 77.

Sangakkara and Mathews, in line with what situation demanded, dropped the anchor. The duo concentrated on singles and doubles as Aussies kept the tight leash to bowl dot balls consistently. It took sixteen over for them to put on 63 runs though. Feeling the heat of not scoring freely, Sangakkara tried to take on Hussey’s gentle off-spin. The left hander could hit a full toss directly to long-on’s throat for an 85 ball 52.

His dismissal triggered a collapse. Jeevan Mendis followed him soon failing to keep down a well disguised slower bouncer for Bollinger to take an easy catch at short fine-leg. No sooner batting power play was taken Mathews had a brain fade trying to blast Bollinger over short cover but only ended up slicing to deep cover. The all-rounder went for 35.

Kulasekera though swung his bat around to earn some quick runs as Bollinger accounted for Malinga as well. The number eight batsman Kulasekera hit three fours and a six in his breezy 34 and last man to depart when he top edged Watson short ball to Clarke at the cover.