A 73 run 4th wicket stand between the Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara and Thilan Samaraweera saw them make a healthy 146 for 3 in 32.5 overs in their vital Group ‘A’ clash against Australia when off season torrential rains halted play at the R. Premadasa Stadium yesterday.
With the rains still on the game was officially called off at 7.40 p.m. thus both teams shared one point each.
Sangakkara who had an early arrival at the wicket when slap bang Dilshan was out in the second over with the total at six, batted with purpose without getting overawed by the situation at hand. In reality his approach did spur the rest of the Lankan batting and the next two wickets to fall were rather ones plucked off the air than earned by the bowlers.
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| Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawarena grab a quick single - Pic by Sanka Vidanagama |
When the Lankan innings was halted Sangakkara was not out on 73 (made in 102 balls with seven hits to the fence) while Samaraweera, keeping good company to his skipper, was not out on 36 with two fours.
After the game Sangakkara speaking to the press said that he was looking at a score of 250 plus to make a game of it and they were on course, but, still he said in a lighter vein, one point from this game was good than no points at all.
The Australian skipper Rickey Ponting said the stand between Sangakkara and Samaraweera was a bit worrying, but with the change of ball an over later, he had some hope of a break through, but he admitted that it would have been a tough target taking into consideration the spin that the wicket had even in the early stages of the game.
The cutoff point of the game was 9.40 p.m. If the crew could have got the ground, had it cleared on time and if Australia were to bat twenty overs, they had to make 154 runs to win under the Duckworth-Lewis system.
Lankans took the first lease of the crease on the same slow and low patch that they made short work of Kenya a few days ago. Inspite of the slowness of the wicket, the Australians playing their very first World Cup match in Sri Lanka came in with three fast bowlers plus Shane Watson, one specialist spinner in Jason Krejza and three others slow bowlers in David Hussey, Steve Smith and Michael Clarke.
Sri Lanka on their part left out seamer Nuwan Kulasekera and accented their attack more on spinners -- Muralitharan, Herat and Ajantha Mendis. The seam attack was to comprise Lasith Malinga and Angelo Mathews.
The first over saw Tharanga opening his account with a double while Dilshan playing in his own inimitable style opened his account which edged four off Tait in the first ball he faced but perished in the fourth, going for a beefy drive outside the off stump, to be snapped up by Craig White at second slip. Then on 31 Tharanga who looked like settling in went for a blinder off a catch taken by Smith at cover point for 6 to the utter surprise of the batsman.
It was Smith once again who hit the Lankans. Mahela Jayawardena and skipper who had added 44 runs in 52 balls and looked settled to push things along. The association ended while looking for a single and hesitated. Jayawardena was unnecessarily run out with Smith not making a mistake with the throw from covers.
Spin introduced in the 17th over with off spinner Krejza.
Krejza’s introduction looked especially looked good for the Lankan camp as the spinner begun to get some bite off the wicket from the very beginning. However, by the 20th over ominous looks in the skies with a cloud build-up on the southern end cast a pall of doom.
Nevertheless skipper Sangakkara absorbing the pressure notched his 50 in 69 balls with five fours. Soon after the Australians lost their first Decision Review when umpire Gould was right with negated ruling for leg before Samaraweera who had then joined Sangakkara. Then the Lankan 100 came in the 24th over moving at a rather tentative 4.38 runs per over. Yet the batsmen kept transferring their strike instead of looking for the rope and they brought up their 50 run stand in 88 balls.
Rains began to come in the 33rd over with a thin drizzle, flowed by rain at 5.06 p.m.
Just prior to that Australia lost their review rights when Sangakkara went forward and Krejza asked the question in hope but skipper Ponting seemed more confident, went for the review right away but once again the umpires were right in their turned down decision.
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