Cricket: Gilchrist inspires Australian victory

Australia 310-8 Sri Lanka 267 Australia win by 43 runs

THE RESULT may have been irrelevant, but Australia and Sri Lanka produced a thrilling match in the Carlton & United Series qualifying match in Melbourne yesterday. After two exceptionally dull games in Sydney in the past week, Australia defeated Sri Lanka by 43 runs in a thoroughly exciting affair. The home side's total of 310 was the highest one-day score ever registered at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, and Adam Gilchrist set an Australian one-day record individual total with his rapid-fire 154.

Even so, Sri Lanka set off in pursuit seemingly undaunted by the huge total, with Avishka Gunawardena and Romesh Kaluwitharana in withering form. The left-handed Gunawardena struck one of his sixes over backward point and made 75 from 66 balls. When Kaluwitharana was out to Shane Warne for 68, who went for 19 in one over, the hard work seemed to have been done.

Sri Lanka had been scoring at eight an over but the innings collapsed after the openers were removed in quick succession. Shane Lee was the main beneficiary, taking 5 for 33.

Australia won toss

AUSTRALIA

A C Gilchrist c Tillakaratne b Vaas 154

M E Waugh b Muralitharan 19

B P Julian c Jayawardene

b Muralitharan 0

R T Ponting c Jayawardene b de Silva 61

D S Lehmann c Ranatunga

b Samaraweera 27

D R Martyn c Kaluwitharana

b Wickramasinghe 18

M G Bevan not out 11

S Lee run out 5

*S K Warne c Tillakaratne b Vaas 3

M S Kasprowicz not out 2

Extras (4lb, 4w, 2nb) 10

Total (for 8, 50 overs) 310

Did not bat: G D McGrath.

Fall: 1-92, 2-92, 3-213, 4-253, 5-286, 6-291, 7-301, 8-307.

Bowling: Vaas 10-1-68-2; Wickramasinghe 9-0-52-1; Muralitharan 3.4-1- 15-2; De Silva 10-0-55-1; Tillakaratne 1.2-0-11-0; Samaraweera 9-0-60- 1; Jayawardene 7-0-45-0.

SRI LANKA

A Gunawardene b Lee 75

R S Kaluwitharana c Martyn b Warne 68

P A de Silva c Waugh b Lee 11

D P M Jayawardene run out 27

*A Ranatunga c Gilchrist b Lee 1

H P Tillakaratne c Ponting b Lee 42

M S Atapattu b Lehmann 12

W P U J C Vaas b McGrath 14

T T Samaraweera b Lee 3

G P Wickramasinghe c Gilchrist

b McGrath 4

M Muralitharan not out 1

Extras (2b, 2lb, 1w, 4nb) 9

Total (47.1 overs) 267

Fall: 1-145, 2-147, 3-164, 4-166, 5-200, 6-225, 7-248, 8-255, 9-265.

Bowling: McGrath 8-0-46-2;Kasprowicz 8-0-45-0; Warne 8-1-51-1 Julian 5-0-45-0 Lee 8.1-0-33-5; Bevan 3-0-15-0; Lehmann 7-0-28-1.

Result: Australia won by 43 runs.

Umpires: D J Harper and T A Prue.