After 30 years Sri Lanka clinched a series victory against mighty Australia when they beat Aussies on June 21 in a last over thriller in the fourth ODI cricket match at R. Premadasa stadium (RPS) in Colombo.
Though Sri Lanka was defeated in the fifth ODI on June 24, it was also a close game. Australia won it just by 4 wickets, and at one stage they were 50 for 4, and at another stage 121 for 6.
If they had lost just one or two wickets, the result would have been the opposite. Yet, thanks to the low total by Sri Lanka (160), Aussis could win the match. However, when considering the whole series, it was Sri Lankan players’ outstanding performances that stand out clearly.
Nissanka–Asalanka records
We cannot ignore the two great centuries by Pathum Nissanka and Charith Asalanka in the third and fourth ODI matches respectively.
In the 3rd game, Australia scored 291 runs for 6. To reach that total Aussie skipper Aaron Finch conceded 62 (85), Travis Head belted 70 (65) and Glenn Maxwell exploded 33 in just 18 balls. No doubt, 291 is a huge score in terms of the R. Premadasa ground - no team had ever chased such score in it before.
But Sri Lanka could easily chase that target thanks to the staggering 137 runs off 147 balls by Pathum Nissanka, and 87 runs off 85 balls by Kusal Mendis before he retired hurt.
The century was Pathum’s maiden ODI hundred and it comprised 11 fours and two sixes.
Pathum and Kusal set up a record breaking partnership at the RPS for the third wicket which was 170 runs.
Fourth ODI
Then, in the fourth ODI, Sri Lanka could only score 258 runs which was not a huge, but a good score. The remarkable performance was by Charith Asalanka who scored his first hundred. He scored 110 runs off 106 balls and it comprised 10 boundaries and one six. The other prominent performance was 60 runs off 61 balls by Dhananjaya De Silva. His inning was strengthened by seven fours.
There was top-class death bowling by the Sri Lankans. Chamika Karunarathne took two wickets for 19 runs with a 3.8 economy rate, while Dhananjaya de Silva picked two wickets for 39 runs with 3.90 economy rate. And also, Jeffrey Vandersay broke two wickets for 40 runs with 5.71 economy rate.
In spite of these staggering bowling exhibitions, without Asalanka’s century Sri Lanka couldn’t have clinched the victory. So his special inning had to be commended and rightly so he was named Player of the Match. Along with that, we also cannot overlook the 101 runs partnership between Charith Asalanka and Dhananjaya de Silva which stabilized the inning.
Nail biting finishes
All the five ODI matches were nail biting finishes. For instance, in the fourth match, Aussies were 189 for 4. They needed just 70 more runs off 86 balls, but they had six wickets in hand and likes of Glenn Maxwell still to come. So they seemed to be flying towards the target of 259. But in the next nine balls, their three major wickets fell - Travis Head, Glenn Maxwell and David Warner.
In the end, they needed 19 runs in the last over which was not to be impossible. Sri Lankan skipper Dasun Shanaka took the ball. It was a big decision as leg spinner Jeffrey Vandersay had been bowling beautifully from that end – Vandersay claimed two wickets in the night, conceding only 10 from his two previous death overs. But Shanaka might have thought that perhaps the No. 10 who faced the ball would more easily hit the ball than smear a spinner out of the ground with more ease than a seam bowler.
The 10th batsman for Australia was Matthew Kuhnemann. He missed the first ball, but blasted a four past point off the second ball. For the third, he scooped over the keeper for two runs, and to the fourth ball, scooped again over short fine leg to the boundary.
Now they needed nine runs off two balls. In the fifth ball, Kuhnemann cleared mid-off for four. Definitely, it was a nail-biting finish. Australia needed just five runs to win the match, four would result in a ite, off the last ball. This was not an impossible task. The other day in the third T20I in Pallekele, Shanaka scored 19 runs in the last over.
Then a group of Sri Lanka players gathered together. Yes, it was the crucial ball. Several mid-pitch conferences were held, and messages from bowling consultant Lasith Malinga who was prowling the boundary were also reached. Fielding was once again changed.
Kuhnemann was ready to face the ball. He hit Shanaka’s last ball over the cover, but it went high in the air. It was a slower ball by Shanaka and the catch was taken by Asalanka. In the end, Sri Lanka’s heartbreak was avoided. The game was over deciding Sri Lanka’s win. That’s how the 4th match ended. The winning not only decided the 4th match, but also the whole series.
Skills of Mendis, Wellalage and Chamika
The Player of the series was named Kusal Mendis who scored 249 runs in five innings with the average of 83. Here, we cannot avoid the name of Dunith Wellalage, 19-year-old leg spinner, who took the highest number of wickets in the tournament which is 9 wickets with the average of 22.33, the best figures were three for 42 in the last ODI.
This is a new Sri Lanka record because no bowler took such wickets in his debut series. In that sense, he so much deserved to receive the surprise ‘gift’ from Malinga which was the ball he took Steve Smith’s wicket. Chamika Karunarathne’s 75 knock in the fifth ODI is also another feat that should not be forgotten. Without him Sri Lanka could not have recorded a competitive score in the match.
Post match presentation
During the post match presentation, Sri Lanka skipper Dasun Shanaka said,
“After Chamika bowled that over (49th over), we had a discussion about bowling a spinner but it was the right idea to challenge myself. I was very confident about the score. We were 34 for 3 at one stage, and Charith and DDS put on a really good partnership and unfortunately we were not able to capitalise at the end. But I was very happy with the score we were able to put on. Not only for me, my teammates, Sri Lanka cricket, the whole country, this is much needed at the moment. I think this should be celebrated by the whole of Sri Lanka.”
Aaron Finch’s remarks are not different from any losing side touring captain’s views: “The series has gone the same way the previous few games have. Any time we look like getting a big partnership and then kicking on we just lose a wicket. We know how hard it is to start in these conditions against good spin and they made the most of the small opportunities we gave them. That total was very ‘gettable’. We got so close. I think a couple of times we’ve had the game under control in terms of the run-rate, it’s never got out of hand, and we’ve just let that slip by just losing wickets at the wrong point.”
Anyway, this great series win by Sri Lanka against mighty Australia has to be a preface for the next ODI World Cup which is to be held next year. If so, this also marks a new chapter in Sri Lanka cricket.
