2007 Cricket World Cup: Australia vs Sri Lanka

Monday, April 16, 2007 

Australia have beaten Sri Lanka by seven wickets in the Super 8 phase of the World Cup at Queen's Park, St. George's, Grenada. Both teams had qualified for the semi-final stage of the competition before the match.

Sri Lanka faltered early in their innings, struggling to 27-3. Silva (64) and Jayawardene (72) shared a fourth-wicket partnership of 140 to help Sri Lanka to 167-4. However wickets fell regularly after that, losing their next five wickets for just 17 runs, before Bandara and Maharoof's late stand of 34. Nathan Bracken was the pick of the Australian bowlers, taking 4/19.

Australia were never troubled by the modest target and a bowling attack missing Muttiah Muralitharan, Chaminda Vaas and Lasith Malinga. They reached the target of 227 in 42.4 overs for the loss of just three wickets. Ricky Ponting was Australia's top scorer with 66 off 80 balls while Andrew Symonds scored 63 off 71 balls. Sri Lanka's best bowling performance came from Russel Arnold with 2/20.

Toss: Sri Lanka won, and elected to bat first.

Sri Lanka innings
Player	Status	Runs	Balls	4s	6s	Strike rate
Upul Tharanga	c Hayden b Bracken	6	22	0	0	27.27
Sanath Jayasuriya	lbw b Bracken	12	12	2	0	100.00
Kumar Sangakkara	lbw b McGrath	0	4	0	0	0.00
Mahela Jayawardene	st Gilchrist b Hogg	72	88	5	1	81.81
Chamara Silva	c Clarke b Hogg	64	107	6	0	59.81
Tillakaratne Dilshan	c Hodge b Tait	7	12	0	0	58.33
Russel Arnold	b Tait	3	10	0	0	30.00
Farveez Maharoof	c Symonds b Bracken	25	22	4	0	113.63
Nuwan Kulasekara	c Hayden b Bracken	1	5	0	0	20.00
Malinga Bandara	c Hogg b McGrath	17	19	0	2	89.47
Dilhara Fernando	not out	0	0	0	0
Extras	(lb 5, w 11, nb 3)	19
Total	(all out; 49.4 overs)	226		17	3

Fall of wickets: 1-26 (Jayasuriya, 4.3 ov), 2-27 (Sangakkara, 5.3 ov), 3-27 (Tharanga, 6.4 ov), 4-167 (Silva, 37.2 ov), 5-174 (Jayawardene, 39.4 ov), 6-178 (Dilshan, 41.0 ov), 7-183 (Arnold, 42.4 ov), 8-184 (Kulasekara, 43.3 ov), 9-218 (Bandara, 49.0 ov), 10-226 (Maharoof, 49.4 ov)

Australia bowling
Bowler	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets	Econ
Nathan Bracken	9.4	3	19	4	1.96
Shaun Tait	10	0	68	2	6.80
Glenn McGrath	9	1	48	2	5.33
Brad Hogg	10	0	35	2	3.50
Andrew Symonds	3	0	15	0	5.00
Michael Clarke	8	0	36	0	4.50

Australia innings (Target: 227 from 50 overs)
Player	Status	Runs	Balls	4s	6s	Strike rate
Adam Gilchrist	lbw b Arnold	30	49	4	0	61.22
Matthew Hayden	c Dilshan b Arnold	41	30	5	2	136.66
Ricky Ponting	not out	66	80	4	1	82.50
Michael Clarke	c Dilshan b Bandara	23	31	4	0	74.19
Andrew Symonds	not out	63	71	5	2	88.73
Extras	(w 4, nb 5)	9
Total	(3 wickets; 42.4 overs)	232		22	5

Fall of wickets: 1-76 (Hayden, 11.5 ov), 2-79 (Gilchrist, 13.3 ov), 3-126 (Clarke, 23.1 ov)

Did not bat: B J Hodge, M E K Hussey, G B Hogg, N W Bracken, S W Tait, G D McGrath

Sri Lanka bowling
Bowler	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets	Econ
Dilhara Fernando	6	1	36	0	6.00
Farveez Maharoof	7	0	52	0	7.42
Nuwan Kulasekara	4	0	20	0	5.00
Russel Arnold	4	0	20	2	5.00
Malinga Bandara	9.4	0	53	1	5.48
Sanath Jayasuriya	6	0	32	0	5.33
Tillakaratne Dilshan	6	0	19	0	3.16

Australia: A C Gilchrist (wkt), M L Hayden, R T Ponting (capt), M J Clarke, B J Hodge, M E K Hussey, A Symonds, G B Hogg, N W Bracken, S W Tait, G D McGrath
Sri Lanka: W U Tharanga, S T Jayasuriya, K C Sangakkara (wkt), D P M D Jayawardene (capt), L P C Silva, T M Dilshan, R P Arnold, M F Maharoof, K M D N Kulasekara, C M Bandara, C R D Fernando

Player of the match: N W Bracken (Australia)

Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pakistan) and B R Doctrove (West Indies)
TV umpire: M R Benson (England)
Match referee: M J Procter (South Africa)
Reserve umpire: D J Harper (Australia)

Sources

• "43rd Match, Super Eights: Australia v Sri Lanka at St George's, Apr 16, 2007" — Cricinfo, April 16, 2007