Saturday, November 6, 2010

Mathews and Malinga script stunning victory

Sri Lanka 9 for 243 (Mathews 77*, Malinga 56, Doherty 4-46) beat Australia 8 for 239 (Hussey 71*, Perera 5-46) by 1 wicket


Muttiah Muralitharan and Angelo Mathews react as Sri Lanka cross the finish line, Australia v Sri Lanka, 1st ODI, Melbourne, November 3, 2010
Angelo Mathews and Muttiah Muralitharan celebrate Sri Lanka's extraordinary victory © Getty Images
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Angelo Mathews and Lasith Malinga produced one of the great one-day international fightbacks to clinch an improbable victory for Sri Lanka, extending Australia's losing streak to six international games since July. The visitors seemed destined for a humiliating loss when they crashed to 8 for 107 chasing 240, but Mathews and Malinga kept fighting, spurred on by noisy support from a crowd dominated by Sri Lankan fans.

They compiled the highest ninth-wicket partnership in ODI history, beating a 27-year-old record set by Kapil Dev and Syed Kirmani at the 1983 World Cup, and the 132-run stand left Australia's confidence in tatters. Malinga belted his way to his first one-day half-century and Mathews played the guiding hand with a wonderful unbeaten 77 as the pair raced towards their target with plenty of time to spare.

They had a scare when Malinga was....

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
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