da premier bet： Moises Henriques produced an allround display of sheer class as Australiacrushed Sri Lanka at the SSC to progress to the semi-finals
da esoccer bet： The Bulletin by Andrew McGlashan at Colombo11-Feb-2006
Scorecard
Moises Henriques was outstanding against Sri Lanka © ICC
Moises Henriques produced an allround display of sheer class as Australiacrushed Sri Lanka at the SSC to progress to the semi-finals. Not contentwith knocking the stuffing out of the Sri Lankan batting, he then smashedan uncompromising 79 off 60 balls against a deflated attack. Tom Cooperwas no slouch either with 84 off 93 as the pair flayed a stand of 146 in21 overs.While the clean striking from Henriques was breathtaking, his massive hits were effortless, sailing miles into the stands. He cleared the ropes on six occasions, one of which landed on the roof of the press box – a monstrous blow – and never came down again. Cooper had begun the chase in emphatic style, piercing the field off front and back foot and displaying another example of the form he produced against South Africa inthe opening match, where he made 104.Australia’s intent to finish this match quickly, and not give the SriLanka spinners a chance to dominate, was evident when Henriques came in atNo. 3. The team management explained they didn’t see any point nudgingaround for the runs, something the top order clearly agreed with.Henriques was delighted with the crushing nature of the win: “Everythingwent our way. It is sometimes difficult chasing a low target and you canstart pushing around a little, but we just went out there and played asthough we were batting first.”He also added that the cut-throat approach was something that had beendiscussed by the team. “Being ruthless is one thing we have really workedon, when a team is down and are we are on top we need to nail them. It showed atthe end, where we could have easily lost a late wicket, but we fought hardto make sure we didn’t lose our intensity and make it all the moreconvincing.”Each Sri Lankan bowler was treated with equal disdain, the slow left-armerMalinga Pushpakumara being creamed for 52 in five overs. They werehampered by Angelo Mathews’ inability to bowl, owing to a groin strainwhich has troubled him throughout the tournament. His injury created amoment of controversy when he was allowed a runner, despite having comeinto the match carrying the injury.However, even if Mathews had been fully fit it would not have made muchdifference. Sri Lanka never looked like being able to replicate thetriumph of their senior side in Adelaide, yesterday, and were underpressure from the moment that Adam Ritchard removed Dimuth Karunaratne inthe second over. By the end of the ninth over Henriques had begun his tourde force with two wickets, and the innings was struggling at 23 for 3.Once again in this tournament, the Australia seamers managed to extractbounce from the pitch that no other team has managed. Twice the Sri Lankanbatsmen were struck on the body or helmet and the quicks were not shy of using the short ball – and to good effect. Ritchard ensured Sri Lanka could never find any momentum, bowling his ten overs off the reel for just 20 runs, and Henriques explained: “The ball was swinging around early so we decided to keep him on as long as we could and he ended up bowling all ten.”Only when Mathews and Dilhan Cooray were together did the innings threatento gain any semblance of control, their stand of 62 the only obstacle to Australia’s march. Henriques broke the stand – no surprise given the day he was having – with a great delivery that squared-up Mathews, shortly after the Sri Lankan captain had asked for the runner.This is not a bad Sri Lankan team but they had nothing to offer againsttheir rampant opponents, despite having home advantage. After a scareagainst West Indies in the qualifying matches, Australia are peaking whenit really matters. They are two wins away from burying the memories of2004 in Bangladesh, and in this form they will take some stopping.
