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Elmo Rodrigopulle reporting from Australia....

A mesmerising spell of off spin bowling by Muttiah Muralitheran failed to bring Sri Lanka victory as Australia beat them by 4 wickets in a Victoria Bitter one-day series game before a full house at the Gabba. Although losing the Lankans were certainly not disgraced. They fought to the bitter end and conceded defeat with seven balls to spare.

Muralitheran who varied and spun his deliveries viciously finished with the fine figures of 4 for 27 in 10 overs with a maiden. After bowling his 8th over he suffered a leg injury, left the field and when he came back could not bowl for 12 minutes, which time was spent attending to his injury. When he was given the ball again he got the wicket of Watson to keep his team'chances alive.

But with no support coming and with left hander Michael Bevan in excellent form Australia were home by 4 wickets. With Australia struggling on 100 for 4, it was the vital partnership of 72 between two of the most experienced campaigners Darren Lehmann and Michael Bevan that took the Aussies to victory.

Lehmann who has now fully recovered made a patient 38 in 49 balls and Player of the match Michael Bevan remained unbeaten on 45 off 79 balls.He made a lofted on drive to signal victory for the kangaroos.

It was the poor running between the wickets that cost Sri Lanka victory. Had they not sacrificed wickets to unnecessary run outs, a formidable score would have been theirs as there were no terrors in the wicket, nor did the bowling look unplayable.

When Australia batted the wicket turned spin friendly and had Muralitheran a better score to bowl at he would have brought them victory.

Sanath Jayasuriya won the toss again and had no hesitation in batting on a pitch, which is reputed for its bounce early on. In addition to the bounce, it also had pace and was hard.

Jayasuriya and Atapattu began the Lankan innings against some accurate bowling by Glen McGrath who was making a comeback and Brad Williams.

With the score on 13, Jayasuriya ran himself out for 6 in 16 balls. He called Atapattu for a third run after playing the ball to mid wicket and failed to beat the throw by Watson. Then at 30 Hashan Tillekeratne did a Jayasuriya, also going for a third run and a return from Hogg saw him run out for 7.

The batsmen were unnecessarily run out. There was no necessity for the third run considering that there were a lot more overs to go.

It was insensible running and should be condemned in the strongest possible terms. Jayasuriya and Tillekeratne are experienced enough to know.

By their silly run outs they put the remaining batting under pressure and as the game progressed it was obvious that the batsmen were struggling.

Aravinda De Silva edged a catch to Damien Martyn in the slips off Brett Lee for no score and Sri Lanka were struggling at 35 for 3. The three most experienced batsmen were back in the pavilion for 35 and Sri Lanka was against it.

Marvan Atapattu then found an able partner in Mahela Jayawardene and together they started to rebuild the innings. As usual Atapattu began to play some eye catching strokes. His driving on front of the wicket was superb.

The footwork and timing had class written all over it. Jayawardene was slow to start and that was understandable considering the position that the team was in. However he too played some fine strokes as innings unfolded.

When their stand was worth 112, Atapattu mistimed a hook off McGrath and went for 70 in 101 balls at 147. Sri Lanka then began to lose quick wickets. Jayawardene went for a well played 56 made in 90 deliveries, Arnold failed again making 3.Vaas went for no score, Buddhika for 3, Muralitheran run out for nought. Kumar Sangakkara, who came in at the fall of the 5th wicket, salvaged the innings somewhat with a blistering innings of 42 in 42 deliveries.

It was a pity that he did not have another batsmen to stay with him and help the score to formidable proportions. In the penultimate over he thrashed 11 runs.

It was due to his late flourish that Sri Lanka were able to go over the double hundred mark and finish at 211 for nine.

There were four run outs in the Lankan innings and this style of dismissals are not acceptable in form of cricket.

Left arm spinner Brad Hogg had the best figures of 2 for 38.

SRI LANKA

M. Atapattu 	c Ponting b McGrath	 	 70
S. Jayasuriya 	run out			  	  6
H. Tillakaratne run out			 	  7
A. de Silva 	c Martyn b Lee		 	  0
M. Jayawardene	b Hogg			 	 56
K. Sangakkara 	not out			 	 42
R. Arnold 	c Maher b Hogg		 	  3
C. Vaas 	b Williams		 	  0
B. Fernando	run out			 	  3
M. Muralitharan run out			 	  0
D. Fernando	not out			 	  0

Extras 	(B4, LB6, W11, NB3)			 24

TOTAL 	(9 wickets, 50 overs)			211

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-13, 2-30, 3-35, 4-147, 5-165,
                 6-173, 7-181, 8-198, 9-201.

BOWLING: G. McGrath 10-2-33-1, B. Williams 10-0-33-1
         B. Lee 10-1-44-1, B. Hogg 10-1-38-2,
         S. Watson 8-0-36-0, D. Lehmann 2-0-17-0.

AUSTRALIA

J. Maer 	stpd Sangakkara b Muralitharan	 30
M. Hayden 	c D. Fernando b Muralitharan	 42
R. Ponting 	stpd Sangakkara b de Silva	 15
D. Martyn 	b Muralitharan			  1
D. Lehmann 	run out				 38
M. Bevan 	not out				 45
S. Watson 	c Tillakaratne b Muralitharan	  4
B. Hogg 	not out				 14
 
Extras 	(B5, LB4, W11, NB5)			 25

TOTAL 	(for six wickets, 48.5 overs)		214

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-76, 2-94, 3-98, 4-100, 5-172,
                 6-182.

BOWLING: C. Vaas 10-1-38-0, B. Fernando 7-0-32-0,
         D. Fernando 10-0-48-0, A. de Silva 6.5-0-31-1,
         M. Muralitharan 10-1-27-4, S. Jayasuriya 3-0-17-0
         R. Arnold 2-0-12-0.

MAN OF MATCH: Michael Bevan (Australia).

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