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| Clint McKay's career-best effort wrecked Sri Lanka's chase |
Unwavering spells from Clint McKay
and the stand-in captain Shane Watson delivered the triangular series
trophy to Australia in a fittingly tense third final against a doughty
Sri Lanka at Adelaide Oval.
As the injured captain Michael Clarke watched intently from the
boundary's edge, Brett Lee and McKay nipped out Sri Lanka's top four
batsmen inside the first 10 overs, after the visitors had threatened to
repeat the runaway start they had made in Tuesday's second match.
Upul Tharanga and Lahiru Thirimanne threatened a recovery, but Watson
was stinginess itself in the middle overs and McKay returned to help
round up the Sri Lankans 16 runs short, the fitting final chapter of a
compelling limited-overs tournament. The visitors' contribution to the
summer was underlined by Tillakaratne Dilshan's selection as player of
the series.
McKay's figures were his best in international cricket, and followed a
critical 28 at the tail-end of Australia's innings. Watson will now take
a weary but happy team to the West Indies for the ODI portion of the
tour, having delivered the first triangular series contested in
Australia since 2008.
Australia's fielding and bowling effort was its best for some weeks, and
needed to be after the batsmen had cobbled only 231 on a slowing pitch.
Led adroitly in the field by Mahela Jayawardene, the visitors had not
been perturbed by an opening stand of 75 at better than five runs an
over between David Warner and Matthew Wade, and chipped away diligently
at the hosts with a combination of spin and reverse swing. No Australian
batsman passed 50 as they were bowled out in the final over.
Rangana Herath and Farveez Maharoof shared six wickets, while Nuwan
Kulasekara also contributed to a tidy ensemble, of which only Lasith
Malinga struggled to contain.
Herath bowled his best and most incisive spell of the tournament to
return 3-36, helped by the use of the same pitch that had hosted
Tuesday's second final. As he had done in that match, Dilshan took the
new ball and bowled his overs with thrift and direction.
Taking Sri Lanka's lead, Watson opened up with the spin of Xavier
Doherty at the other end to Lee, but the initial gambit did not work.
Dilshan and Jayawardene capitalised on Doherty's errors of line and
length, collecting four boundaries from his first two overs as they
swept to 0 for 33 from the first four overs.
Lee was also slipping in a final effort for the home summer, and he
gained a critical break when Dilshan tried to work a lifting delivery to
the leg side and managed only to loop a catch to cover from the
front-edge of his bat. Kumar Sangakkara looked in truly sparkling touch
upon his arrival, and had sprinted to 19 from eight balls when Lee
coaxed an edge from his ninth - the high chance very well held by
Watson.
McKay had replaced Doherty, and was soon settled into a precise spell
that exploited the vagaries of a wearing surface to the maximum. Dinesh
Chandimal was pinned lbw by a delivery that whirred in at middle stump,
before Jayawardene was undone by another that seamed back just enough to
beat his forward press and graze off stump.
Extremely unsteady at 4 for 53, Thirimanne and Tharanga fought to keep
the chase afloat, but the caution forced by the loss of early wickets
forced the required rate back up into awkward territory against the
older ball. Watson, Nathan Lyon and Daniel Christian bowled
intelligently without a wicket, as the match and series edged towards a
nervous finish.
Thirimanne had added 60 with Tharanga and the Australians had grown
tense by the time Watson found a way to eke out a wicket. Angling across
Thirimanne, he coaxed a sliced drive that flew low into Warner's safe
hands at backward point. Kapugedera could manage only 7 before he edged
another McKay delivery, the deflection held by a diving Wade.
Kulasekara threatened a repeat of his Gabba heroics, cracking two
boundaries in a brief stay, before Lee followed the batsman's retreat
outside leg stump to cramp his room and prompt a catch to mid-on.
Maharoof had been held back to No. 9, and he would provide a calming
presence alongside Tharanga as the target was whittled down.
Watson had led his side well in testing circumstances, but he perhaps
erred in his judgement to let Sri Lanka sneak closer. Having bowled five
searching overs for only eight runs, Watson nonetheless preferred two
overs of Doherty's spin, costing 16 runs. By the time he recalled
himself to the attack, Watson had only 30 runs to defend from the final
five overs.
This all made Watson's sixth over, the 46th of the innings, crucial. He
responded in the best possible fashion, conceding only two runs and
finding Tharanga's outside edge. Next over McKay found a way through
Herath, and 17 were still required when he yorked Malinga.
In the afternoon, Warner and Wade were conscious of the need for greater
impetus at the top of the innings and played their shots early on,
though taking more liberties against the pacemen than Dilshan's
part-time spin.
Warner cleared the boundary once and looked rather more fluent than he
had during most of his century on Tuesday, but on 48 he edged a bouncing
delivery from Maharoof to Kumar Sangakkara.
Wade had been struggling physically, vomiting at one point in what
appeared an attack of gastro, but it was a surprise when a punchy Watson
picked out Herath on the leg-side boundary off Dilshan's bowling, the
fielder clasping the sharp chance to his chest.
Michael Hussey's stay was brief, Dilshan's swift gather and throw from
short third man finding him short of his ground after he had called Wade
through for a single. Sri Lanka's sense of momentum only grew when
Wade's dogged stay was ended by Herath, who coaxed an edge that
Sangakkara held with a juggle.
Forrest could make only 3 before misreading Herath's length and being
bowled by a delivery that straightened just enough to beat his defensive
blade and flick off stump. David Hussey was given lbw to a ball that
would have passed over the top of the stumps, while Christian was undone
by a Maharoof slower ball that he could only punch to mid off.
McKay and Lee did their best to swell the total in the closing overs,
and their contributions were ultimately vital to a fighting victory.
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