Sri Lanka Legends beat Australia Legends by 38 runs

Kanpur: Tilakratne Dilshan’s fine century( 107) , Dilshan Munaweera’s unbeaten 95 runs and Nuvan Kulasekara’s four wicket haul helped Sri Lanka Legends beat Australia Legends by 38 runs here at Green park and started its campaign in Road Safety World Series with a winning note on Sunday.
Sri lanka Legends batting first posted a big total of 218 runs for the loss of one wicket in 20 overs and asked Australian legends to score 10.9 runs per over to win the match.Australian players tried their best but they failed to achieve it as their innings folded on 180 runs in 18 overs.
Two batsmen attacked the Australian attack from the very first over and maintained it till their partnership scoring 38 runs in the first five overs and 79 for no loss after 10 overs. After 15 overs, Sri Lanka was on 150 for no loss and in the last five overs they hammered 68 runs to post 218 runs which is the highest score so far in this tournament.
Two batsmen, especially Tillakaratne enjoyed the luck and lapses of Australian fielders Munaweera was held by Sayers of Krejza at the midwicket region but the third umpire declared him not out as the ball had touched the ground. Later, Tillakaratne Dilshan survived when he was swept back to Krejza in the gully region. Brad Hog held the catch at the boundary line but could not take a jump to hold the ball in the air. They geared up the scoring rate from the 11th over when they hit 21 runs in Krejza third over and thereafter every bowler was punished. The batsmen played every possible shot and scored runs freely. Munaweera completed his fifty in 37 balls plundering 7 boundaries and one six while Tillakaratne completed his 50 in 32 balls consisting of 5 boundaries and 2 sixes.
Tillakaratne completed his much-awaited century with a boundary to Bret Lee who was dropping 19th over of the innings. He ran for three but the third umpire declared it four runs as the fielder had touched the rope while stopping the ball. He thereafter hit a six in the very next ball and was bowled in the next delivery. It was expected that Munaweera too would complete his century but he failed to achieve it. He returned unbeaten after scoring 95 runs scored in 63 balls hitting 10 boundaries and 2 sixes. Upul Tharanga returned unbeaten with 3 runs.
Score board
Sri Lanka-Dilshan Munaweera 95no, Tillakaratne Dilshan b Bret Lee 107, Upul Tharanga 3no Extras-13, Total 218 for 1 in 20 overs.
Fall of Wkts-1-208
Bowling- Brett Lee 4-0-45-1, Chadd Sayers 4-0-36-0, D Nannes 4-0-29-0, John Hastings 4-0-48-0 Jason Krejza 3-0-35-0 Shane Watson 1-0-16-0.
Australia – Shane Watson c Dilshan b de Silva 39, Camroon white lbw b Mendis 30, Brad Hodge c de Silva b Mendis 1, Callum Ferguson b de Silva 29, Ben Dunk b Jayarathne 18,Nathan Reardon John Hastings b N Kulasekara 5,Chadd Sayers b Kulasekara 0, Jason Krejza run out 1,Brett Lee b Kulasekara 0, D Nannes b Kulasekara 0 Extras – 11 Total 180
Fall of wkts 1-75,2-78,3-79,4-126,5-130 ,6-151,,7-151,8-179,9-180,10-180
Bowling – Chaminda Vaas 2-0-21-0, Nuvan Kulasekara 4-0-36-4, Isuru Udana3-0-39-0 chaturanga de Silva 4-0-32-2, Jeevan Mendis, 2-0-14-2, Tilakratne Dilshan 1-0-8-0,A Gunaratne 1-0-15-0, Ishan Jayarathane 1-0-12-1.