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Sri Lanka vs Australia, 4th ODI: Sri Lanka beat Australia to take unassailable 3-1 lead in series

Sri Lanka's Charith Asalanka

©Reuters

By Cricket World

Sri Lanka won the ODI series in dramatic fashion, winning the 4^th ODI against Australia by just 4 runs, at the R.Premadasa Stadium, Khettarama, Colombo today.

Match Summary

Sri Lanka vs Australia, 4th ODI, Australia tour of Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka 258/10 (49 ov)

Australia 254/10 (50 ov)

Result - Sri Lanka won by 4 runs

Scorecard

VICTORY ????

Sri Lanka beat Australia by 4 runs and seal the series 3-1 with one match to go! ???#SLvAUS pic.twitter.com/Ao1bgSh0ir
— Sri Lanka Cricket ???? (@OfficialSLC) June 21, 2022

Australia won the toss and put Sri Lanka in to bat - Openers Niroshan Dickwella (1) and Pathum Nissanka (13) were out early on.

Things just got worse for Sri Lanka as Kusal Mendis (14) joined shortly after, before Dhananjaya de Silva (60) built a crucial half century. Charith Asalanka (110) then added a masterful century of his own to put Sri Lanka back into this one.

Unfortunately, that's where the run scoring slowed down for Sri Lanka, Australia's bowlers taking back control for the remainder of innings and Sri Lanka were all out for 258 .

In the run chase, Australia didn't fair much better to begin with, as Aaron Finch was gone for a duck, lbw C Karunaratne.

However,David Warner (99) stood tall and hit a crucial score for Australia - with Mitchell Marsh (26) and Travis Head (27) chipping in enough to keep Australia in the hunt, before Warner was out on 99 and Australia were reduced to 192/7, and, in some trouble.

That brought Pat Cummins and Cameron Green together and they put on 30, in 8 overs, to take Australia to within reach of levelling the series, however, when Green was out with the score on 223, Australia’s chances of a series leveller win seemingly went with him, despite a dramatic last over, with Matthew Kuhnemann taking 14 runs off it, before being out on the last ball, just 5 runs short of a win.

Match Stats

Sri Lanka Fall of wickets: 1-5 (Niroshan Dickwella - 1.2 ov), 2-26 (Kusal Mendis - 6.3 ov), 3-34 (Pathum Nissanka - 9.5 ov), 4-135 (Dhananjaya de Silva - 26.2 ov), 5-150 (Dasun Shanaka - 29.4 ov), 6-207 (Dunith Wellalage - 40.2 ov), 7-222 (Chamika Karunaratne - 42.5 ov), 8-256 (Charith Asalanka - 47.4 ov), 9-257 (Jeffrey Vandersay - 48.1 ov), 10-258 (Maheesh Theekshana - 48.6 ov)

Australia Fall of wickets: 1-3 (Aaron Finch - 2.4 ov), 2-66 (Mitchell Marsh - 11.4 ov), 3-101 (Marnus Labuschagne - 19.3 ov), 4-131 (Alex Carey - 25.4 ov), 5-189 (Travis Head - 35.5 ov), 6-190 (Glenn Maxwell - 36.2 ov), 7-192 (David Warner - 37.1 ov), 8-223 (Cameron Green - 45.3 ov), 9-240 (Pat Cummins - 48.5 ov), 10-254 (Matthew Kuhnemann - 49.6 ov)

Playing XIs

Sri Lanka - Niroshan Dickwella (WK), Pathum Nissanka, Charith Asalanka, Kusal Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dasun Shanaka (C), Chamika Karunaratne, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dunith Wellalage, Jeffrey Vandersay, Maheesh Theekshana

Australia - Aaron Finch (C), David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Marnus Labuschagne, Travis Head, Alex Carey (WK), Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, Pat Cummins, Matthew Kuhnemann, Josh Hazlewood