World Cup 2015 Match 32 Australia vs Sri Lanka Review; Australia win thanks to Maxwell

World Cup 2015 Match 32 Australia vs Sri Lanka Review; Australia win thanks to Maxwell: The match between the 2 heavy weights of Group A turned out to be one of the most exciting one. Australia scored a mammoth 376/9 in their 50 overs and Sri Lanka gave a hell of a chase to their total thanks to their 2 stalwarts and a young gun out to prove himself. Read on for our match review to know more.

Australia batted first after winning the toss and started by losing Warner for 9 and Finch for 27. But after that Steven Smith (72) and Michael Clarke (68) added 134 for the 3rd wicket and stabilised the Australian innings before the real fireworks began.  After the fall of Smith, Glen Maxwell came in and started cautiously but powerfully. With the calmness of Clarke to keep him focussed, Maxwell began demolishing Sri Lankan bowlers. He was then joined by Shane Watson who began pressing the pedal on the gas to kick start the fireworks. Maxwell (102) and Watson (67) added 160 runs for the 5th wicket in 13.4 overs. Maxwell brought up the fastest Australian hundred in 51 balls and the second fastest in the World Cup history missing the fastest mark by 1 ball. He got out for 102 runs off just 53 balls with 10 fours and 4 sixes. Brad Haddin then contributed 25 in 9 balls to take Australia to 376/9, 50 runs more than what Sri Lankans would have hoped to stop Australia on.

The SriLankan innings began on a sour note when Lahiru Thirimanne go out early. But Dilshan (62) and Kumar Sangakkara (104) made 130 runs together in 20 overs to give momentum to the Lankan innings. Dilshan hit Johnson for 6 fours in an over, becoming the first man to do so in World Cup history. He was going great guns until Faulkner trapped him LBW. Mahela Jayawardene also couldn’t do more and was run out for 19. Sri Lanka got a big blow when Sangakkara was dismissed for 104. This was Sangakkara’s 3rd consecutive century in the 2015 World Cup making him first batsman to do so. They needed 110 odd runs in the last overs and Dinesh Chandimal and Captain Mathews began the task with great gusto. Chandimal hit 50 in just 22 balls before he was injured and had to retire hurt.  Watson dismissed Mathews the very next ball and Sri Lanka lost all the momentum they had gathered to chase down the Australian total. The dismissal of Thisara Perera after he hit a four, hit the final nail in the Sri Lankan coffin.

The match proved that Australia were still a big contenders for the World Cup trophy and it would take a super human effort from another team to win against them. Whereas Sri Lanka just has a bad day in the office. They are a good team with tremendous batting potential hit by injuries to main bowlers. Both Sri Lankan and Australia will play Scotland next in their World Cup matches.

Glen Maxwell named Man of the match for his 102 off 53 balls.

Brief Scores:
Australia 376/9 (G Maxwell 102,S Smith 72; L Malinga 2/59) Sri Lanka312/9 (K Sangakkara 104, T Dilshan 62) by 64 runs.

Records and Trivia:

# Kumar Sangakkara became the second batsman in ODI history to make 14,000 runs. Now second on the list after Sachin Tendulkar who has 18426 runs.

# Glen Maxwell completed his century in 51 balls, the fastest by an Australian in ODIs and World Cup and the second fastest in the World Cup history.

# Sri Lanka became the first team in World Cup history to score 300 or more runs against Australia.

# Tillakaratne Dilshan hit Mitchell Johnson for 6 fours in 6 balls in Johnson’s 3rd over. This was the first instance of a batsman hitting all the 6 legal balls of an over for boundaries in World Cup cricket.

# Dinesh Chandimal’s 22 ball fifty is the fastest by any Asian player in World Cup history.

# 25 centuries have been scored in this World Cup – the most in any WC edition. There were 24 centuries hit in 2011 edition.