Saturday 25th February, 2012 on top after thrilling three- win Australia after an early collapse. catch on the mid-wicket bound- Australia made a poor start to ary to give Mathews (2-43) the Point s Table the match after winning the toss valuable wicket of Australia - and opting to bat when opener tain Clarke. Matthew Wade was caught by Forrest had hit 10 boundaries Team M W L Pts Jayawardene at wide mid-off for and two sixes when he offered a Sri Lanka 6 3 2 15 5 in just the second . simple catch to Maharoof off a Australia 6 3 3 14 Opening partner Warner was slower Mathews ball. India 6 2 3 10 caught behind for 7 shortly after Michael Hussey made 21 off 14 while defending a Maharoof balls before being bowled by Sangakkara after he charged up David Hussey was unbeaten . and Christian the wicket at a on 40 with on 20 at the Perera claimed an athletic was by wicketkeeper delivery. end of the Australia innings.

SCOREBOARD Australia Innings M. Wade c Jayawardene b Kulasekera 5 D. Warner c Sangakkara b Maharoof 7 P. Forrest c Maharoof b Mathews 104 M. Clarke c Perera b Mathews 72 M. Hussey b Malinga 21 D. Hussey 40 D. Christian st Sangakkara b Herath 6 Sri Lankan batsman , right, is congratulated by B. Lee not out 20 teammate Thissara Perera after hitting the winning runs to defeat Extras: (1b, 1lb, 3w) 5 Australia in their match in Hobart, TOTAL: (for six ) 280 Australia, Friday, Feb. 24, 2012. (AP) Overs: 50 HOBART, Australia (AP) — get over the line, but full credit Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-27, 3-181, 4-201, 5-243, 6- hit an to Sri Lanka,” Australia 250. aggressive half to help Michael Clarke said. “Our execu- Did not bat: Ryan Harris, Xavier Doherty, Ben set up Sri Lanka’s thrilling tion with the ball wasn’t good Hilfenhaus. three-wicket win over Australia and the top four could do better.” : Malinga 10-0-56-1 (2w), Nuwan 10-0-59- in a limited-overs Tri-Series Sri Lanka opener Tillekeratne 1, Maharoof 10-0-40-1, Herath 9-0-45-1, Mathews match Friday. Dilshan made just 3 before he 7-0-43-2, Thisara 4-0-35-0 (1w). Man of the match was caught by Peter Forrest at Jayawardene hit six boundaries deep square-leg off Ben Sri Lanka Innings and a six to make 85 off 81 balls, Hilfenhaus in the eighth over. M.Jayawardene st Wade b Doherty 85 and brought edged a T. Dilshan c Forrest b Hilfenhaus 3 up an assured 80 at Bellerive Christian ball to K. Sangakkara c Warner b Christian 22 Oval as the Sri Lankans scored for 22, and Jayawardene was D. Chandimal lbw Harris 80 283-7 to overhaul Australia’s 280- stumped by wicketkeeper L. Thirimanne c Hilfenhaus b Christian 24 6 with four balls to spare. Matthew Wade when he was A. Mathews c Warner b Christian 24 “It was one of those days beaten by a Xavier Doherty F. Maharoof c Harris, b Hilfenhaus 5 when most of your shots went to delivery. T. Perera not out 21 the gaps,” Jayawardene said. added 24 N. Kulasekera not out 4 Sri Lanka now leads the Tri- before becoming Christian’s sec- Extras: (1b, 6lb, 8w) 15 Series with 15 points, one more ond victim, caught by than Australia, ahead of the Hilfenhaus. TOTAL: (for seven wickets) 283 finals starting March 4. Chandimal hit seven fours in Overs: 49.2 “The youngsters are learning his knock. He was trapped lbw Fall of wickets: 1-55, 2-90, 3-153, 4-202, 5-243, a lot from these games,” by Ryan Harris and Farveez 6-250, 7-267. Jayawardene said. “We are top of Maharoof had added just 5 when Did not bat: Lasith Malinga, Rangana Herath. the table, but we still need to do he lofted a ball to Harris off Bowling: Lee 9.2-0-63-0, Hilfenhaus 10-0-51-2 a lot of hard work.” Hilfenhaus. (2w), Harris 6-0-43-1 (1w), Christian 8-0-53-3 (1w), Sri Lanka’s hopes of the win Forrest earlier scored 104 for Doherty 10-1-35-1, Clarke 5-0-27-0, D. Hussey 1- looked in doubt when Angelo his maiden international centu- 0-4-0. Mathews miscued a Dan ry in what appeared to be a chal- Toss: Australia. Christian (3-53) delivery with 14 lenging Australian total. His cen- Man of the Match: Mahela Jayawardene (SL) runs required from nine balls, tury was the first of the tri- Result: Sri Lanka won by three wickets. but hit a four and series tournament, which also Umpires: Billy Bowden, New Zealand, and Bruce a six off the next two balls, and involves India. Oxenford, Australia. Nuwan Kulasekara hit a four in Clarke made a quick-fire 72 off Sri Lankan fast bowler , right, celebrates with wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara TV Umpire: Simon Fry, Australia. Match Referee: the last over to seal the victory. 79 balls in a 152-, third-wicket after he caught an edge from Australian opener David Warner in the One Day International cricket Chris Broad, England. “Unfortunately we couldn’t stand with Forrest to steady match in Hobart, Australia, Friday, Feb. 24, 2012. (AP)

49th Thurstan-Isipatana Big Match 95th Battle of the Golds SCOREBOARD St. Patrick’s Jayakumar century erases underdog tag Isipatana 1st Innings on top BY REEMUS FERNANDO lunch without being parted. They forced Sanka Thabrew bowled R. Perera 85 Thurstan skipper Sajeewa Salgado to Ushan Perera lbw K. Silva 26 Jaffna College, Vaddukoddai were Left-hander Deshan Jayakumar pro- rotate eight bowlers (in 36 overs) to no Deshan Jayakumar not out 100 struggling at 94 for six wickets at duced his best performance of the season avail during the first session. Thurstan’s H Wanigarachchi ct & b Minhaj Jaleel 01 close in reply to St. Patrick’s College’s 226 runs on day one of the scoring an unbeaten century for under- only success during the first two sessions MRanaweera st. H’rana b Minhaj Jaleel 26 dogs Isipatana College to post 256 for five came in the first ball after lunch when 95th Battle of the Gold Big Match at C Rajapaksha bowled Minhaj Jaleel 00 St. Patrick’s College Ground in wickets at stumps against arch rivals paceman Kavinda Silva had left-hander Pavan Anjana not out 00 Ushan leg before wicket for 26 runs. Jaffna yesterday. Thurstan College on day one of the 49th Extras (11b, 3lb, 3n, 2w) 19 Second to depart was Thabrew, who W.C.L. Livington picked up four annual Big Match between the two Total (for 5 wickets) 256 schools at SSC Ground yesterday. scored eight fours in his knock which wickets to leave Jaffna College strug- Coming to bat just one ball after the came in 219 balls. He stayed at the wicket Overs 99 gling at stumps after their top and lunch break Jayakumar batted until the for 219 minutes. Fall of wickets: 1-72, 2-181, 3-182, 4- middle order batsmen built on the match was called off for bad light. He Thurstan who came to the 49th edition 251, 5-251 solid platform laid by their openers, made Thurstan pay dearly for giving him of the Big Match as the favourites paid To bat: Malin Dias, Sidath to post 226 runs. ‘lives’ on two occasions. The number dearly for couple of missed opportuni- Mallawarachchi, Kaminda Dananjaya, St. Patrick’s openers R. Jackson three batsmen who had not scored a sin- ties. The century maker was dropped at Gihan Navishan. and Rishanth Tudor provided a solid gle half century this season batted for 248 mid off by Kavindu Kulasekara when he Bowling: Kavindu Silva 15-3-36-1(2n), first wicket stand of 71 runs before V. Kugabala and A. Norbert added 32 minutes and faced 213 balls for his was on 11 off the bowling of spinner Dulan Charuka 8-0-34-0(2w), Minhaj unbeaten knock which included eight Minhaj Jaleel. Wicketkeeper Sahan and 43 runs respectively to guide Jaleel 25-7-51-3, Ramindu them to 226 runs. fours and the only six of the day. Hewavitharana missed a stumping oppor- Kumarasinghe 18-3-46-0(1n), Tharindu tunity off the bowling of Rajith Perera Scores: He was also involved in a fruitful 109 Silva 2-0-3-0, Rajith Perera 21-5-42-1, when Jeyakumar was on 60. St. Patrick’s 226 all out in 68.5 runs partnership for the second wicket Kavindu Kulasekara 6-2-11-0, Avishka with opener Sanka Thabrew. Thabrew, Deshan Jayakumar (left) came up with The post tea session was fruitful for overs (R. Jackson 36, Rishanth Tudor who also had little success this season, an unbeaten century, his best perform- Thurstan as spinner Minhaj Jaleel, who Peiris 2-0-10-0, Sajeewa Salgado 2-0-9-0. 36, V.Kugabala 32, A. Norbert 43; R. turned his season’s averages on its head ance of the season for Isipatana to post bowled the bulk of the overs, picked up Toss: Thurstan Nilaxshan 3/55, N. Kajendran 3/55, L. when he passed the half century mark 256 for five wickets at stumps. (Pic RF) three wickets including the key wicket of Umpires: T.H. Wijewardena, Pradeep Lingaraj 2/18) for the first time and went on to compile skipper Harith Wanigarachchi for 01 run. Udawatta Jaffna 94 for 6 at stumps in 27 a patient 85 runs. and Salinda Ushan frustrated Thurstan The match commences at 9.30 am Scorers: Sathasivam Ravindran, L.G. overs (T. Nimalendra 21, S. Asked to bat first, openers Thabrew as they helped Isipatana reach 72 run for today. Chandana Shantha. Mathushan 28, N. Kajendran 27n.o ; L. Livington 4/12) (RF)

Saturday 25h February, 2012