Charith Asalanka’s first day of the international century and an inspiring pivotal attack led Sri Lanka to an exciting four-game winning streak over Australia on Tuesday.
Left-hander Asalanka made 110 to lead Sri Lanka to 258, a total that was enough to give the hosts an unbeaten 3-1 lead in the five-game series in Colombo.
Worker David Warner’s 99 was in vain, as Australia was eliminated by 254 and the island nation won its first bilateral series against the Australians in more than a decade.
They last won in 2010.
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Sri Lankan goalkeeper Niroshan Dickwella celebrates with his teammates during the fourth ODI. Source: AFP
Dhananjaya de Silva spinners Jeffrey Vandersay and fast bowler Chamika Karunaratne, who was the team’s only regular scorer, grabbed two ports each.
Pat Cummins ’final cameo of 35 and a 15 of 12 balls for No. 10 Matthew Kuhnemann, who hit three-quarters when Australia needed 19 of 50, gave Sri Lanka a fright.
Australia lost captain Aaron Finch to nothing with Karunaratne catching the first lbw.
Warner remained calm and made 63 runs with Mitchell Marsh, who looked good for his 26th before falling to the left of Dunith Wellalage.
Australia lost to Marnus Labuschagne and hitter Alex Carey after the start, but fell to Sri Lankan spinners.
Striker Warner usually stayed strong to try to reduce the opposition’s attack while getting Travis Head as a company and the two put together 58 runs for the fifth wicket.
De Silva made a bid to take the lead as a ball coming in on the right hand side left Maheesh Theekshana completely alone with keeper Glenn Maxwell, who made a spectacular block.
But the big moment came when the Warner left lost its tone after rejecting De Silva while the home team held the key.
Cameron Green and Cummins tried to ignite the chase in a 31-run stand, but Vandersay threw Green.
Cummins marched to 49, but Kuhnemann struggled to the end before coming out on the final ball.
Earlier, desperate to recover from an overwhelming six-port defeat to a Sri Lankan who broke the record in the third ODI, Australia won the draw and opted to play first, having struggled to play in pink last time.
Despite the failure of Australia’s part-time spinners to make an impact in the previous game at Colombo’s same field, the selectors decided not to include spinner Mitchell Swepson, instead of reintroducing only Pat Cummins for Jhye Richardson.
It was a decision that will surely face some scrutiny, as Sri Lanka benefited from a wide range of turn options (the 43 turn turns), while Australia only had rookie Kuhnemann as a specialist. , and Labuschagne and Glenn Maxwell as part-time.
Australia had a dream start on the field, claiming a trio of wickets in the first 10 overs, with three different bowling players claiming a wicket in their first over.
First, Maxwell had Niroshan Dickwella (1) perplexed in just the second envelope of the match. Then, in the seventh, Pat Cummins went on the attack and threw the dangerous Kusal Mendis from a thick inside, leaving Sri Lanka 2-26.
Pat Cummins was brutally unlucky to miss a port. Source: FOX SPORTS
Shortly afterwards, Marsh had the stunning Pathum Nissanka – who scored a century into the third ODI – trapped from behind by just 13 after a glove with Alex Carey from outside a simple catch.
After 10 overs, Sri Lanka was 3-35. But Dhananjaya de Silva and Charith Asalanka balanced the boat and soon had Australia at the back, with visitors filtering the boundaries. However, Asalanka was lucky not to be fired for a single run, after seeing Pat Cummins cut his leg only so that the bail would not fall, the second time in the first 11 overs that they produced, after a Kuhnemann ball was deflected earlier in the wickets. .
Dhananjaya and Asalanka got a 100-run partnership on so many balls, before Marsh stopped his momentum with a crucial second port from Dhananjaya (60 of 61) thanks to a magnificent catch from Maxwell.
Charith Asalanka passed 50, before captain Shanaka (4) exhausted the next ball, leaving Sri Lanka 5-150 with just over 20 overs to play. Asalanka then added a 50-run partnership with 19-year-old Dunith Wellalage, while Sri Lanka crossed the 200-race mark with 10 overs to play.
Wellalage trapped deep spinner Kuhnemann in 19 of 35, trying to increase the pace of the innings, with Sri Lanka 6-207 in 41st. Kuhnemann soon got a double when he had Chamika Karunaratne LBW (7) after the overhaul, with the glove Alex Carey convincing his captain Aaron Finch to resort to DRS.
Asalanka took his first 100 with just 99 balls, before falling by 110 over 106 to 48th. He was obviously tired of his efforts in oppressive conditions, and Aaron Finch caught him off guard with a slower Cummins ball.
Jeffrey Vandersay was eliminated (0 off 2) by Cummins in the depths after a poor run between the ports, before Sri Lanka’s final hitter Maheesh Theekshana made an incredibly poor decision to try a career in the last ball of the 49th. Wanindu Hasaranga, Sri Lanka’s versatile superstar had returned from injury and shot 21 * out of 20, and was waiting for Theekshana to block the last ball of the over so that Hasaranga could hit the end of the end. tickets.
Theekshana ran onto a great ball from Mitchell Swepson, which beat the offside trap, the keeper came rushing out and the lob was attempted, but the lob didnt succeed.
Cummins finished 2-37 of his nine overs to go with a run, while Marsh had 2-29 with seven overs. Kuhnemann was 2-56 with eight overs. Josh Hazlewood played better than his 0-45 figures suggested.
The last match will be on Friday at the same venue.
Sri Lanka v Australia 3rd ODI Highlights | 06:54