COLOMBO: Australia’s wicket-keeper batter Alex Carey rescued his side in the run chase before Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins dismantled the Sri Lankan batting lineup to power their side to seal a consolidating victory in the fifth ODI.
In a dead-rubber fifth ODI, Australia held their nerves calm in the run chase as Carey bolstered his side with a defiant knock to propel the touring side to a six-wicket victory as they chased down 161 in the 40th over.
In the run chase, the touring side were off to a dismal start as they lost four wickets for a mere 50 runs. Carey and Marnus Labuschagne then anchored the run chase with a 51-run partnership for the fifth wicket and neutralized the horror before Dunith Wellalage trapped the latter in his legs for 31.
The wicket-keeper Carey then ran into a brief partnership with the all-rounder Glenn Maxwell as they added 20 runs to the team’s total before Wellalage struck again to break the partnership as Australia slipped to 121/6 with forty more to win.
The bowling all-rounder Cameron Green then displayed brilliance as he joined hands with Carey to steer the side to the victory in the 40th over. Carey remained unbeaten with his gritty 45 off 65 balls with the help of a boundary, while Green scored a valiant 25 not out on 26 balls.
For Sri Lanka, Wellalage shone with the ball; taking three wickets, while Maheesh Theekshana bagged two. Pramod Madushan, on the other hand, made one scalp.
Batting first, the Australian bowlers completely dominated the hosts’ batting lineup as seven batters could not manage to score in double figures.
The all-rounder Chamika Karunaratne fought hard with his valiant knock of a run-a-ball 75 but he too, could not bolster his side to a defendable total as Sri Lanka could only score 160 before bowling out in the 44th over.
For Australia, Matthew Kuhnemann, Hazlewood, and Cummins picked two wickets each while Maxwell and Green struck out a batter each.
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