A century from Nick Haydar and a fine performance from their bowlers helped Australia beat Sri Lanka by 49 runs in the second match of 2002 World Cup for the Blind, which was played at the SPIC-YMCA Ground, Chennai on Tuesday.

In the morning, after being sent in, the Australians made a slow start and things seemed to have taken a turn for the worse when they lost two quick wickets, including that of captain Michael Zannis for duck, with the score at 29 in the ninth over.

But fortunately for Australia, the recovery process got quickly underway with the arrival of the 32-year-old Turkish-born Haydar. The Australian No 4 first strung together a 28-run partnership with opener Robert Raiteri (24) before the latter was dismissed.

Then came the defining partnership of the match - Haydar and wicketkeeper/batsman Christopher Backstrom putting on 164 runs for the fifth wicket, before Haydar was run out for a well-made 103 off 89 balls.

Backstrom, for his part, went on to to make 67 off 77 balls before also being run out. With extras contributing 31 runs, Australia posted 249 by the time they were dismissed off the last ball of their alloted 40 overs.

When Sri Lanka replied, none of their batsmen were able to make a significant contribution. Samantha Raja Paksha (35), Wasantha Jayawardene (20), Kalubadanage Jayaratne (20) and Lakshan Devappriya (18) were the only batsmen to get into a double-figures - a fact that led to their side being dismissed for 200 in 33 overs depite extras contributing a hefty 91. Nick Carozza (3-36) and Terry Eagers (2-43) were the most successful bowlers for Australia, who were awarded four points for the win.

© CricInfo