Australia clinch one-day win in Sri Lanka

Brett Lee

COLOMBO, (Reuters) – Fast bowler Brett Lee and  spinner Xavier Doherty took four wickets apiece as Australia  crushed Sri Lanka by five wickets to win the fourth one-day  international and take an unbeatable 3-1 lead in the five-match  series at the R Premadasa Stadium yesterday.

Sri Lanka won the toss for the third time in the series and  chose to bat, but the decision backfired as Lee and Doherty  bowled them out for 132 in 38.4 overs.

Brett Lee

Australia won in the 28th over, scoring 133-5.
Mahela Jayawardene top-scored with a painstaking 53 off 102  balls and Kumar Sangakkara made 31. The rest of the batting  hardly made an impression, with the last seven batsmen failing  to enter double figures.
Lee ended with figures of four for 15 and Doherty a  career-best four for 28.

Australia lost Shane Watson (12) and Ricky Ponting (0) in  one over from Lasith Malinga, but Shaun Marsh and skipper  Michael Clarke put together 97 off 116 balls before debutant  spinner Seekuge Prasanna picked up three wickets in four balls  to cause a late alarm in the Australian batting ranks.

Prasanna dismissed top scorer Marsh for 70 off 80 balls (11  fours, 1 six) and Michael Hussey (0) from successive deliveries  and David Hussey (0) off his fourth to finish with figures of  three for 32.

Clarke was unbeaten on 38 along with Brad Haddin (5) as the  winning runs came from four leg byes.

Scoreboard
Sri Lanka innings
U. Tharanga b Lee                                          8
T. Dilshan c Haddin b Bollinger              12
K. Sangakkara c Lee b Doherty                31
M. Jayawardene c and b Lee                    53
C. Silva lbw b Doherty                                   0
A. Mathews st Haddin b Doherty              6
N. Kulasekara lbw b Watson                       7
S. Eranga c Bollinger b Lee                          1
S. Prasanna lbw b Doherty                          0
L. Malinga b Lee                                              0
A. Mendis not out                                          0
Extras: (lb 10 w 4)                                        14
Total: (all out, 38.4 overs)                      132

Fall of wickets: 1-20 2-24 3-95 4-95 5-101 6-118 7-128 8-132  9-132
Bowling: Lee 6.4-1-15-4, Bollinger 7-0-28-1 (1w), Johnson  8-0-31-0 (1w), Watson 7-0-20-1, Doherty 10-0-28-4 (2w).

Australia innings    
S. Watson c Mendis b Malinga                 12
S. Marsh c Sangakkara b Prasanna        70
R. Ponting c Prasanna b Malinga             0
M. Clarke not out                                          38
M. Hussey c Sangakkara b Prasanna       0
D. Hussey b Prasanna                                   0
B. Haddin not out                                           5
Extras: (lb-6 w-2)                                           8
Total: (for five wickets, 28 overs)       133 

Fall of wickets: 1-26 2-26 3-123 4-123 5-
123
Did not bat: M. Johnson, B. Lee, X. Doherty, D. Bollinger.
Bowling: Malinga 7-2-18-2, Mendis 7-0-31-0 (1w), Dilshan  2-0-17-0, Kulasekara 2-0-13-0, Eranga 4-0-16-0 (1w), Prasanna  6-1-32-3.
Result: Australia won by five wickets