Maiden T20 win on home soil:

Dilshan 'ton' pilots Lanka to easy victory

By Chinthana Wasala - Pallekela

A blistering century by skipper Tillakaratne Dilshan, followed by some wicket to wicket bowing helped Sri Lanka to beat Australia by 35 runs in their first Twenty20 international played under lights at Pallekele International Stadium in Kandy yesterday. It was Sri Lanka’s maiden T20 international victory on home soil.

Dilshan continued his aggressive form with another sparkling century which kept Sri Lanka innings together, though the home team lost three frontline wickets at regular intervals. But Dilshan looked a tower of strength as he negotiated the Australia bowling intelligently, with a galaxy of strokes to keep the spectators alive at the newly built stadium in suburbs of the hill capital for the 2011 ICC World Cup.

The experienced Sri Lanka captain showed no mercy to bad deliveries from Australian bowlers while he picked right balls to go for singles and 2s. Dilshan carried his bat through the Lankan innings to remain unbeaten on 104, off 57 balls with five sixers and 12 boundaries.

Initially, it appeared to be a right decision by Australia to put Sri Lanka in after winning a decisive toss under gloomy weather conditions as the home team opened with a disastrous note, losing experienced Mahela Jayawardene only in the third over of their innings.

Jayawardene had no answer whatsoever to a deadly delivery from paceman Bret Lee and was clean bowled for 11 runs. Jayawardene, who hit Lee to a magnificent boundary in over mid on in the previous over, fell for a ‘Lee yorker’ after the quick bowler went full and landed in front of leg. Jayawardene got his bat onto it, but could only guide it to the off stump.

One drop bat Dinesh Chandimal showed early form in his run-a-ball 11 but was hit wicket when attempting to work a ball from Mitchell Johnson in the sixth over when Sri Lanka total was on 42. Having hit left-arm paceman Johnson for two successive boundaries in the previous over, Chandimal fell to the very same bowler in the following over for one of those rare hit wicket decisions in T20 cricket.

Johnson had a good length ball on the Chandimal’s pads, but the extra pace forced the batsman deep into the crease, as the bat came down late. The end result was over-balanced Chandimal’s front leg going across and hitting the stumps.

Dilshan, who opened the innings with Jayawardene, negotiated the Australian bowling well to keep the scoreboard moving. Tillakaratne and Kumar Sangakkara added 52 runs for the third wicket in seven overs before the latter was out for 30, caught by White off Watson with the total on 94 in the 13th over. Dilshan went on to consolidate with Jeewan Mendis as the pair negotiated the last few overs well to share an unfinished 104 runs for the fourth wicket off just 45 balls. It was a run feast when Dilshan was in full cry while Mendis gave him a good support, making 29 off 19 balls with four fours.

Australia never looked comfortable in their run chase as Sri Lankan bowlers consolidated right from the beginning. Paceman Nuwan Kulasekera removed both the Australian openers - Shane Watson and David Warner. The Australians, who was reduced to 49 for 3 in the seventh over, were in further trouble as off spinner Dilruwan Perera ran through the visitors’ middle order with three important wickets to finish with 3 for 26 off his four overs.

Australia batsman continued to struggle at one end while opener Warner had a lone battle to score 53 runs off 31 balls with two sixers and two fours.

It was the only bright spot in the Australian innings as the rest of the batsmen struggled against some accurate bowling by Sri Lankans. Though Johnson hit Dhammika Prasad for a massive six off the last ball of their innings, the Australians still fell 36 runs short of their target of 199 runs in 20 overs. Australia made 163 for 8 in 20 overs at the end.

The second and final T20 international in the Australia-Sri Lanka series will be played at the same venue tomorrow (8).

	SCOREBOARD

SRI LANKA
M. Jayawardene b Lee			11
T. Dilshan not out		       104
D. Chandimal hit wkt b Johnson		11
K. Sangakkara c White b Watson		30
J. Mendis not out			29
Extras (lb7, w6)			13
Total  (for three wickets; 20 overs)   198

Fall of wickets: 1-12 (Jayawardene), 2-42 (Chandimal)
		 3-94 (Sangakkara)
Bowling: Lee 4-0-38-1 (w2)
	 O’Keefe 3-0-18-0 (w1)
	 Johnson 4-0-47-1 (w1)
	 Hastings 3-0-34-0 (w2)
	 Smith 2-0-13-0
	 Watson 4-0-41-1
  
AUSTRALIA
S. Watson b Kulasekara			10
D. Warner c Dilshan b Kulasekara	53
S. Marsh lbw b Perera			04
D. Hussey b Perera			06
C. White b Perera			07
S. Smith st Sangakkara b Herath		12
B. Haddin run out			07
M. Johnson not out			22
S. O’Keefe b Lakmal			22
J. Hastings not out			14
Extras (lb1, w5)			06
Total (for eight wickets; 20 overs)    163

Fall of wickets: 1-18 (Watson), 2-39 (Marsh)
		 3-49 (Hussey), 4-63 (White)
		 5-89 (Smith), 6-103 (Haddin)
		 7-105 (Warner), 8-144 ( O’Keefe)
Bowling: Kulasekara 4-0-39-2 (w3)
	 Lakmal 3-0-23-1 (w1)
	 Perera 4-0-26-3 (w1)
	 Prasad 3-0-37-0
	 Dilshan 3-0-26-0
	 Herath 3-0-11-1

Man of the Match: Thilakaratne Dilshan
Secont T20 international: At Pallekelle tomorrow
Sri Lanka leads 1-0 in two-match T20 series.