Date-stamped : 20 Jan96 - 02:15 ODI # 1039 World Series 1995/96, Final 1 Australia v Sri Lanka Melbourne Cricket Ground (D/N). 18 January 1996 ====> report Friday 19, January 1996 Benson and Hedges World Series Cup MCG Thursday- In a grim battle Sri Lanka fought back gallantly after tottering at 152 for 9 though their last pair skipper Arju- na Ranatunga 31, in 57 balls, with last man R. Puspakumara 8 n.o., chasing 200 for a win lost by 18 runs in the first of the three by 72,614 fans in d match here today. Australia made 201 for 7 in 50 overs. The Lankans made 183 in 48.1 overs. It was a game that Sri Lanka didn`t deserve to lose when they matched the Aussies in all three areas of the game, despite faced with some glaring decisions made by umpire Randall. Sri Lanka proved to be a far more competitive side, than one would have en- visaged. Sri Lanka was cruising with 100 for 24 in 21 overs and 107 for 2 in the 24th over, with Gurusinha and Aravinda de Silva batting sedately. But to the credit of the Australians they fought back to the end with their bowlers ace spinner Shane Warne 2 for 29, who started the slide to dismiss `Ara`, then followed by some hostile bowling by Mcdermott 3 for 41 and Glen McGrath made amends in this vital game to pick 3 for 28 to give and Glen McGrath made amends in this vital game to pick 3 for 28 to give the Aussies the lead in this best of the three finals. It was lack of concentration on the part of the Lankan middle order batsmen that paid put to their chances of winning this match after the hard work put up by their bowlers. The Aussies will field the same team for the match in Sydney on Jan. 20. Sri Lanka in reply to Aussies 201 runs started in a flurry with Romesh Kaluwitharne and Jayasuriya. Romesh who has already made a name at the MCG was given a rapturous ovation from the frenzied fans. He duly obliged with three fours in his 13 runs. Taylor`s objective was to keep `Kalu` quiet and it came right when the di- minutive batsman was ruled out leg-before to McGrath, but it should have been the benefit in his favour. Jayasuriya made a ra- pid 19 in 25 balls with a four. Gurusinha and Aravinda de Silva settled down to bat sensibly, when the pair put on 61 runs for the third wicket. The Australians sent in to bat, after losing their top order _ 4 for 39, did well to recover to make 201 for 7, thanks to two pro- ductive stands, of 61 runs for the fifth wicket between Ricky Ponting (51) and Michael Bevan (59), followed by and a resolute sixth wicket stand with Bevan and Ian Healy 50 n.o., _ 55 runs in 76 balls. The Sri Lankan pacemen Chaminda Vaas and Ravindra Pushapakumara bowled with great hostility to have the Kangaroos on the hop. Vaas showing enormous fire from the first over had Mark Taylor caught behind off a lifting delivery in his third ball for a duck. Vaas made further inroads into the Aussie batting when he had Mark Waugh`s fence rattled in his third ball of this third over when it took the inside edge for 4 _ 9 for 2, in five overs. Steve Waugh, who joined Ponting should have gone, but for a dubi- ous decision by umpire Steve Randall, when he called `no` _ 18 for 2. The ball could have hit the middle stump. But Steve, fi- nally gone for 13 runs, when he ballooned the ball for Gurusinha for a simple catch to give Wickremasinghe a wicket in the bowlers` first over. The Aussies struggling at 39 for 3 _ 10 overs 30 runs. Push- pakumara, who was overlooked for the tests on this tour bowled with vengeance to baffle the Aussie batsmen. `Pushpa` had his first scalp, in the first ball of his seventh over, to dismiss S. Law caught behind for a duck. Youngsters Ponting and Bevan sewed up the innings with gritty batting. Both batsmen finding the gaps and with tremendous con- centration took control. At the halfway mark it was 74 for 4. The pair hoisted the 100 in 177 balls. Ponting the scourge for the Sri Lanka bowlers again completed a dandy 50 in 72 balls with 4 fours. Then came that superb bit of fielding from Mahanama, who struck direct to the bowler`s end to run out Ponting for 51 made in 74 balls. The bowler was Dharmasena. Both Vaas 5-1-12-2 and `Pushpa` 8-1-24-1 bowled with sustained accuracy. The Bevan-Healy stand proved a stumbling block, with runs flowing rapidly. Bevan was the showpiece of the Aussie innings. The lefthander played some beautiful strokes all round to complete a fine 50 when he off drove Vaas for 4, in 94 balls with four fours. Mahanama was again to the fore in the field, when he held a marvellous catch running backward to hand on to the ball off a Bevan hit for 59 off Pushpakumara made in 102 balls with five fours. Again the umpiring of Steve Randall was much to be desired with, when he disallowed a catch caught behind off Reiffel, yet another blatant decision by an umpire who is among the World Cup panel. Reiffel was on one when it was disallowed off Pushpakumara`s last over _ a thick edge. The 15 runs he made was a bonus for the Aus- sie total, finally bowled by Vaas. Healy made 50 not out off 55 balls. Vaas and `Pushpa` who came for the big stick later returned 3 for 42 and 2 for 34, in their allotted overs. Sri Lanka`s rampant Romesh again continued with his blistering batting. But it was cut short by yet another bad decision by Steve Randall. The umpire ruled him out leg before off McGrath for 13 with 3 fours. _ 17 for 1. Source :: Lake House/Lanka Internet Services Contributed by Ravi (sista@*.latech.edu) ====> more The Electronic Telegraph Friday 19 January 1996 Warne checks Sri Lankans By Ihithisham Kamardeen in Melbourne AUSTRALIA produced a soul-searching effort to beat Sri Lanka by 18 runs with 11 balls to spare and take a 1-0 lead in the best- of-three finals of the World Series Cup at the Melbourne Cricket Ground yesterday. After some late-order sparkle from Michael Bevan and Ian Healy saw Australia to 201 for seven, Craig McDermott (three for 40 for his 200th one-day wicket), Glenn McGrath (three for 28) and Shane Warne (two for 29) bowled with focus to skittle out the Sri Lan- kans for 183. Australia`s early order collapsed again as they stumbled to 39 for four - to follow recent poor starts in the one-dayers of 27 for three, 54 for three, 54 for three, 39 for four and 38 for five - before Bevan and Healy saved the day with a late flourish. The Sri Lankans, however, had their customary tearaway start - 31 runs off five overs, 49 for two off 10 and 70 for two off 15. But Warne checked the flow in the 24th over, removing a dangerous Aravinda de Silva, with an edge to slip, and Hashan Tillekeratne, caught behind cutting, as Sri Lanka slumped to 110 for four. When Roshan Mahanama limped off with a hamstring strain the in- nings took another nosedive. He returned at the fall of the eighth wicket but did not last long. Earlier, in-form batsman Romesh Kaluwitharana struck three boun- daries off Paul Reiffel`s first over to set Sri Lankan pulses racing in anticipation of another care-free knock. But it was all short-lived when umpire Steve Randell adjudged him leg before wicket to McGrath although it did not appear to be as close as the appeal against Steve Waugh which the same umpire rejected. The Sri Lankan captain, Arjuna Ranatunga, said: "We should have won this game. Our middle order let us down. It`s history now." WORLD SERIES CUP.- 1st final (Melbourne): Australia 201-7 (50 overs; M G Bevan 59, R T Ponting 51, I A Healy 50). Sri Lanka 183 (48.1 overs). Australia won by 18 runs. Source :: Electronic Telegraph (www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by Shash (shs2@*.cwru.edu)