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| Sunday, 21 March 2004 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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Warne leads Australia to victory to clinch Test series over Sri Lanka SA'ADI THAWFEEQ reporting from Kandy KANDY, March 20 - It was a case being so near and yet so far for Sri Lanka as they lost the second cricket Test by 27 runs at the Asgiriya International Stadium here today and with it the three-Test series to Australia who now hold onto an unbeatable 2-0 lead. Sri Lanka chasing 352 runs for victory was dismissed for 324 in 34 minutes of the final morning as Australia easily picked up the last three wickets for the addition of 23 runs. The onus was on Sri Lanka to beat Australia and square the series before the final Test at the SSC on Wednesday, but the pressure of making the 51 runs on the final day began to tell and Chaminda Vaas dropped at 45, by one of Australia's best fielders Andrew Symonds at extra cover holed out to deep midwicket two balls later and with it went Sri Lanka's hopes of winning the Test. Vaas had batted very well in both innings having top scored with 68 not out in the first innings and making 45 today. But he may have felt rather disappointed that he could not stay long enough to finish it off. If at all Sri Lanka was going to win, Vaas was the key man. But his sudden rush of blood even after being given a 'life' told the difference between the two teams. Vaas has only to reflect how Damien Martyn played. Despite being dropped three times, he batted on regardless without taking any chances to compile a career best 161 in almost nine hours. Nuwan Zoysa's antics at the non-striker's end to unsettle Shane Warne proved to be his downfall as he lost his focus on the game and was dismissed for a duck when he tried to hook Gilchrist and gave a catch behind the wicket. The end was inevitable with Muralitharan joining Lokuarachchi. Warne revelling in this kind of pressure situations wrapped up the innings by trapping Lokuarachchi on the back foot to finish with his fourth five-wicket haul of the series. It brought his tally to 511 wickets and he is within sight of breaking West Indian Courtney Walsh's world record of 519 in the third and final Test at the SSC. Warne finished with five for 90 and a match bag of ten for 155 to take the man-of-the-match award. He has 20 wickets in the series as many as Muttiah Muralitharan. AUSTRALIA 1ST INNINGS 120
(M. Hayden 54; N. Zoysa 4-54, M. Muralitharan 4-48)
SRI LANKA 1ST INNINGS 221
(C. Vaas 68 not out; M. Kasprowicz 4-83, S. Warne 5-65)
AUSTRALIA 2ND INNINGS 442
(A. Gilchrist 144, D. Martyn 161; C. Vaas 3-103,
M. Muralitharan 5-173)
SRI LANKA 2ND INNINGS
(overnight 301-7)
M. Atapattu lbw b Gillespie 8
S. Jayasuriya c Gilchrist c Gillespie 131
A. Gunawardene lbw b Kasprowicz 9
K. Sangakkara c & b Warne 29
M. Jayawardene c Gilchrist b Gillespie 13
T. Dilshan b Warne 43
H. Tillakaratne c Ponting b Warne 7
C. Vaas c Langer b Warne 45
K. Lokuarachchi lbw b Warne 16
N. Zoysa c Gilchrist b Gillespie 0
M. Muralitharan not out 4
EXTRAS: (b-4, lb-14, nb-1) 19
TOTAL (all out, 73.1 overs) 324
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-17, 2-36, 3-98, 4-174, 5-218,
6-239, 7-274, 8-319, 9-320, 10-324.
BOWLING: Kasprowicz 17-1-55-1, Gillespie 20-1-76-4,
Warne 21.1-2-90-5, Symonds 3-0-16-0,
MacGill 12-0-69-0 (1-nb).
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