Sri Lanka wins bilateral ODI series against Australia
Sri Lanka wins the bilateral ODI series against Australia for the first time after 30 long years at home!
Tuesday night saw Sri Lanka hold their nerves to take an unassailable 3-1 series lead as they beat Australia by 4 runs in the fourth ODI in Colombo.
It turned into a nail-biting contest, after setting Australia a 259-run target, the hosts took wickets at regular intervals until 19 was needed off the last over.
Matthew Kuhnemann made things interesting by hitting three fours in the over to bring down the equation five need off the last ball.
However, Dasun Shanaka dismissed the Australian batter to help his team secure a four-win win.
Batting earlier, Charith Asalanka hit his maiden one-day century and rescued Sri Lanka from a top-order collapse.
Australia bowled out the host side for 258 in Tuesday’s fourth ODI match.
Sri Lanka slipped to 34-3 after being put in to bat first.
Australian fast bowlers Pat Cummins, Mitchell Marsh, and spinner Matthew Kuhnemann each took two wickets.
Glenn Maxwell struck first with his off-spin to get wicketkeeper-batsman Niroshan Dickwella stumped for one in the second over of the innings.
Cummins kept the host side under pressure as he soon sent back Kusal Mendis for 14 and previous match hero Pathum Nissanka fell for 13 off Marsh.
However, a 101-run partnership between the left-handed Asalanka (110) and Dhananjaya de Silva (60) brought the host team back to a respectable total with a mix of caution and aggression.
