Australia
 India
 Sri Lanka

 Series
 Aust v India
 Aust v SL
 India v SL
 One-Day Int'l

 Colombo (RPS)
 Colombo (SSC)
 Galle

World Champs prove too good again

Australia has achieved victory over Sri Lanka in the fourth match of the Aiwa Cup by the relatively comfortable margin of  27 runs at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo tonight.  And whilst the triumph was among the least impressive of their recent string of successes, this was indeed a well deserved win - and one that never looked to be in doubt from just beyond the halfway point of the contest.  Although they did clearly not play to their best, the Australians will probably leave the Stadium content in the knowledge that they still remain the superior team in this tournament and aware that their victory was again a tribute to the efficiency of their upper order batting, the controlled consistency and accuracy of their bowling, and the general sharpness of their ground fielding.

In many ways, the pattern of this game bore striking similarities to the sides' previous meeting in this tournament - the Australians' 52 run win at Galle on Sunday - with the Sri Lankans once more proving unable to successfully pursue a moderate total.  Again, the Australians batted first (albeit after electing, rather than being invited, to do so) and once more undid a very effective start from their openers by surrendering a regular stream of wickets through the middle stages.  Indeed, courtesy of an excellent effort from Sri Lanka's spin bowlers, the opening fifty overs of the match looked to have left the fate of proceedings hanging nicely in the balance.  In short, the opening session of play was one in which the ability of the home team's slow bowlers to utilise pitches in this part of the world to outrageously good effect manifested itself in clear terms.  At the forefront of their performance was an excellent spell of ten overs from leg spinner Upul Chandana (3/35), who wrested the initiative from a then rampant Australian upper order almost immediately after being called to the bowling crease in the twentieth over.  Chandana teased and tormented the Australians with brilliant control and variation and, notwithstanding the fact that he received excellent support from fellow slow man Muttiah Muralitharan through the middle of the innings, he was quite patently the man who was chiefly responsible for bringing Sri Lanka back into a game which seemed to be careering out of control during the course of a rapid fire partnership of 83 for the opening wicket.

For the visitors, meanwhile, the most sizeable and most effective contribution came from man of the match Mark Waugh (84).  He played a number of beautiful shots on both sides of the wicket throughout the first half of the afternoon - several cover drives and leg glances featuring prominently.  But whilst he was afforded grand support early in the day's play from his opening partner, Adam Gilchrist (38), he attained precious little from any other of his teammates and accordingly lost his wicket as the twin frustration of seeing a succession of partners disappear back to the dressing rooms and the difficulty of coping with the excessively tough weather conditions proved too much.