SL win by 20 RunsSri Lanka qualified for the Champions Trophy semi-finals with a 20-run victory over holders Australia in the last league match at the Oval in London on Monday.
Sri Lanka made 253-8 after being sent in to bat and then bowled out Australia for 233 to join hosts England in the semi-finals from group A with four points each.
In Sri Lanka’s bowling department, Nuwan Kulasekara was the pick of the lot as he finished with impressive figures of three for 42 in his nine overs.
A last-wicket stand of 41 runs between Clint McKay (30) and Xavier Doherty (15 not out) frustrated the Lankans before Tillakaratne Dilshan pulled off a brilliant catch off his own
bowling to seal the issue in his side’s favour.
The move not to bring back strike bowler Lasith Malinga, with Australia on the verge of defeat, was surprising. But Dilshan’s blinder ensured it was Sri Lanka, and not New Zealand in the last-four stage.
Adam Voges top-scored for Australia with a 62-ball 49 while Glenn Maxwell and Matthew Wade blazed their way to 32 and 31 respectively.
Earlier veteran Mahela Jayawardene made his way to an unbeaten 84-run knock to propel Sri Lanka to 253 for eight in their 50 overs, leaving Australia with a near impossible task of chasing down the target in 29.1 overs to ensure a semifinal berth at the Kennington Oval.
Australia couldn’t achieve the target in the required overs and were eventually all out for 233 in 42.3 overs.
During the course of his innings, the elegant Jayawardene crossed 11,000 runs in this form of the game, the eighth cricketer to do so.
However England topped the group due to a superior run-rate and will take on Group B runners-up South Africa in the first semi-final at the Oval on Wednesday.
Sri Lanka will meet Group B winners India in the second semi-final in Cardiff on Thursday, a repeat of the 2011 World Cup final in Mumbai which the Indians won.
The final is at Edgbaston, Birmingham, on Sunday.
