This was billed as one of the big matches at the cricket world cup and the game was panning out into an interesting situation but mother nature decided to open the heavens and it was stopped at an score of Sri Lanka being 146-3 with captain Sangakkara 73 NO and Samaraweera 34 NO.
Earlier on Sri Lanka won the toss and choose to bat on an good looking batting service. It was good batting surface but it looked like it had some assistant for the bowlers if they got it in the right places early on which the Australian bowlers did right from the word go. Tait's first over to Dilshan (second over of the match) was an spicy over. The first ball was an thick outside edge which went to the boundary. Tait wasnt happy with the something and has an argument with Dilshan. Both batsman going face to face. Tait moved in to ball his second ball and Dilshan got his revenge on Tait by pulling out of the delivery right at the end. Tait wasnt happy and the umpire had to come in to calm things down. Then when he did finally get to bowl his second bowl tried to hit Tait out of the park but instead but Dilshan edges it to White and Tait has got the final laugh in that mini battle. This brought the captain Sangakkara to the crease.
Sangakkara started batting on a really positively taken on the fast pace bowling of the Australians. He was pushing the score at an nice steady rate. On the other side Tharanga was being steady and patient. He was happy to play single fiddle to his captain. They were going along nicely until a magic catch by Steve Smith where he leaped to take a catch where both feat were off the ground in catching an upper cut by Tharanga. The drama wasnt over there the umpire wanted to check if Lee had over stepped the mark. He went upstairs and it showed he was just by miler meters within the marks of not being a no-ball and he was given out. This brought out the former captain Jayawardene to the crease.
These 2 players have played countless number of times together and they started off at an positive rate. Even though the boundaries were not flowing off the bat they used there experience and there knowledge of the ground to pick off the singles and twos to keep the score board ticking over. They were moving along calmly and were not taken on the bowlers they were waiting for the bad balls and they were putting them away.
At the end of the first powerplay they had reached the score of 52-2 after 10. They got there with minimal risk and clever batting and having some strong metal minds as Australia were playing verbal battles against each other. The second powerplay was an conciliatory period for Sri Lanka as they were looking to build on the start but not loss wickets at the same time. The Australians were bowling really tightly to the opposition and even apart from one bad over Australia restricted them to only 22 runs in the second powerplay but importantly they didnt loss any more wickets.
Disaster happened second ball after the bowling powerplay as Jayawardene was run out by an brilliant throw by Steve Smith's throw. It was an tight run but the only way he was going to be run out was to throw directly at the stumps with an flat throw. Unfortunately for Jayawardene he did just that and he was out 75-3. This brought in Samaraweera to the crease.
Australia put a lot of pressure on Samaraweera and Sangakkara as they squeezed the runs out of Sri Lanka. It was much harder to play away and the runs were not coming as freely. Between overs 15-20 only 12 runs were scored 1 wicket was taken and no boundaries were scored. They had got the crowd subdued and had an air of control over the match. But for there pressure Samaraweera and Sangakkara seemed able to handle the challenge the Australians had put out for them. In the 21st over they got there first boundary and in the 22nd over the captain got to his 50. He got it off 69 balls which included 5 fours. In that same over Australia had an appeal turned down for an LBW to get Sangakkara out. It was challenged but the system agreed with the umpire and he was given not out.
This prompted Ricky Ponting to go for an different attack. From the seamer's bowling to spin attack from both ends as he brought on Krejza and Steve Smith. Without causing too many problems they kept the score down and the run rate was significantly reduced. But the Sri Lankan's were showing there class as they were able to get the ones and twos and keep the score ticking. Sangakkara was leading the side from the front really well as they built this partnership. The 50 runs partnership was complete off 83 balls. They were going an steady rate.
But it was obvious that the clouds were coming in and a storm was coming. But as the clouds were coming in the Sri Lankan team were playing faster and better as they were getting the scoring rate up. Samaraweera was on for an impressive 50 and Sangakkara was on for an century but then the rain came down. The players didnt go off straight away as this is an one day match. The rain wasnt helping the spinners bowl at all and it was getting easier for the batsman to play. But Krejza got an ball to turning into Sangakkara which was appealed and turned down but Ponting referred it. It was an close call but it was given in Sangakkara's favor. That turned out to be the last ball of the match as the rain got heavier.
It was thought it would be an short shower but it kept raining and rained hard and at quarter past 8 local time the game was called off as the rain never relented. This means one point each and it was our first draw of the world cup. Disappointment for the neutrals and the fans which turned out. But they should still both make the quarter final. For Australia they move on to play Kenya at Bangalore on Sunday as the Sri Lankans play Zimbabwe at Kandy on Thursday.
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