With hopes to level the five-One-Day International (ODI) series 2-2, Sri Lanka had lots at stake as they entered the ground at Dambulla for the fourth match. Wining the toss, hosts batted first and were bundled out for 212 due to some sharp bowling by John Hastings who picked up his career best bowling figures of 10-0-45-6. With Tillakaratne Dilshan retiring from ODIs after the third match, Dhananjaya de Silva opened the innings and did a reasonable job by scoring 76 along with Angelo Mathews‘ 40. No other batsmen could get going as they threw wickets at regular intervals.Australia have been given a modest target of 213 and will like to win the match and seal the series. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: Australia vs Sri Lanka, 4th ODI at Dambulla
Sri Lanka came into the fourth ODI with various changes as debutant Avishka Fernando came into the squad in place of retired Dilshan. Sachitha Parithana and Angelo Perera were also included in the Playing XI. Australia, on the other hand, got Usman Khawaja and Scott Boland instead of Shaun Marsh and Josh Hazlewood. READ: Australia vs Sri Lanka 4th ODI: Australia eye series win
Mathews won the toss for the 4th consecutive time in this series and elected to bat. Debutant Fernando could not make most of the chance as he was adjudged lbw off Starc’s bowling on the fourth ball of the first over. Kusal Mendis too walked back towards the dressing room as Hastings got his first wicket. Chandimal was expected to bail his team out again but sadly could not. Mathews walked in at No. 4 position with the score at 31 for 3. de Silva stuck to his end amidst a tight bowling by Australia. He also made the most of his opportunity by scoring his maiden ODI half-century.
With de Silva and Mathews at the crease, Sri Lankan innings saw stability as they added 84 runs together. They both made sure of playing risk free shots as their main priority was to handle the innings. de Silva was grooming in confidence while batting with his skipper. Mathews started limping as his calf muscle injury hit him hard and had to leave the field which opened the shackles for Australia to push hard against the opponents. de Silva got out soon which was followed by a flurry of wickets. Angelo Perera and Kusal Perera walked back towards the dressing room soon and Sri Lanka never looked like getting back into the match. Thisara and Pathirana had to make sure that their team did not bundle out well before the 50 overs but again both could not do much.
Australian bowlers were complemented for bowling in right areas and displayed variations on regular basis. Runs were hard to come as Sri Lanka had to literally toil for every single run. Starc conceded 12 runs in the 44th over of the innings which was the maximum number of runs scored by the hosts.
Towards the end of the innings, Dilruwan Perera and Pathirana scored some valuable runs which helped their team to some total. Limping skipper Mathews came in to bat at No. 8 again after his calf injury had forced him off the field. The skipper was not fully recovered from his injury but still came into bat and scored some vital runs to make sure that they reached a decent total. He stuck to the policy of stand and deliver as he hit some vital boundaries in last 10 balls of the innings and was dismissed of the last ball. Sri Lanka scored 29 of the last 5 overs which helped them reach 212 in 50 overs.
The pick of the bowlers was Hastings as he took his six-for which turned the tides of his side. Starc finished with figures with 1 for 51 while Boland finished with two wickets. James Faulkner bowled well but went wicket less.
Australia have a target of 213 to clinch the series 3-1 before they play the final ODI. Sri Lanka have other things to worry about which include their skipper’s injury which might keep him at bay from bowling in the second innings.
Brief scores:
Sri Lanka 212 (Dhananjaya de Silva 76, Angelo Mathews 40; John Hastings 6 for 45; Scott Boland 1 for 36)
(Rohan A. Sawant is a reporter for CricketCountry. He loves Football, Cricket and is a die-hard Arsenal fan. He is an avid writer and has some knowledge about cricket and so he is trying his best to pour with his Laptop as he finds writing with pen and paper very clumsy. You can follow him on Twitter @iswandering)
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