Friday, June 5, 2009
By their own high standards, Australia had had a moderate tournament till they took on Sri Lanka in their final Super Eights match.
It was a virtual quarterfinal with the winner joining Pakistan from the group in the semifinals.
And when it comes to the crunch, trust the Aussies to raise the level of their game.
Playing with clinical efficiency, they outplayed Sri Lanka for a ten-wicket victory to book a berth in the last four.
The Aussies took even adversity in their stride, for they were without skipper Ricky Ponting (hamstring injury) while Shane Watson was incapacitated and could not finish his fourth over.
Brett Lee, Nathan Bracken and Stuart Clark (seen with his Man of the Match award for his match-winning return of 4-20) rose to the occasion backed up by faultless fielding and Sri Lanka were all out for 101 in the last over.
Even this represented a recovery as the men from the Emerald Isles had been reduced to 43 for seven at one stage.
Adam Gilchrist (31 off 25 balls) and Matthew Hayden (58 off 38) then wasted little time in propelling the Aussies to a 10-wicket victory, the winning runs coming in the 11th over.
It was a virtual quarterfinal with the winner joining Pakistan from the group in the semifinals.
And when it comes to the crunch, trust the Aussies to raise the level of their game.
Playing with clinical efficiency, they outplayed Sri Lanka for a ten-wicket victory to book a berth in the last four.
The Aussies took even adversity in their stride, for they were without skipper Ricky Ponting (hamstring injury) while Shane Watson was incapacitated and could not finish his fourth over.
Brett Lee, Nathan Bracken and Stuart Clark (seen with his Man of the Match award for his match-winning return of 4-20) rose to the occasion backed up by faultless fielding and Sri Lanka were all out for 101 in the last over.
Even this represented a recovery as the men from the Emerald Isles had been reduced to 43 for seven at one stage.
Adam Gilchrist (31 off 25 balls) and Matthew Hayden (58 off 38) then wasted little time in propelling the Aussies to a 10-wicket victory, the winning runs coming in the 11th over.
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