Australia Won By 5 runs

Australia v Sri Lanka, CB Series, Perth

Australia 231 (Clarke 57, Mathews 2-37) beat Sri Lanka 226 (Mathews 64, Doherty 2-24) by 5 runs

Angelo Mathews narrowly failed to deliver victory to Sri Lanka at the WACA, where Australia held on by five runs in a thrilling finish. Sri Lanka needed 18 from the final over bowled by Mitchell Starc, and Mathews gave them every chance by pulling the first ball for four and driving the next delivery over long-off for six, before a pair of singles left the visitors needing six from two balls.

But Mathews skied the next delivery to long-on, where Daniel Christian held his nerve to take the catch, ensuring Australia remained unbeaten in the Commonwealth Bank Series. And while Australia did, for the most part, bowl and field well, they could consider themselves fortunate to have escaped with victory after posting what appeared a sub-par total, of 231, with Michael Clarke (57) the only man to score a half-century.

Sri Lanka were on track in the chase before a middle-order collapse left too much to Mathews and the tail. That Mathews nearly got them home was remarkable, as was his 46-run tenth-wicket stand with Dhammika Prasad, but his dismissal for 64 should at least mean the rest of the batting order is held accountable for a disappointing effort that undid the fine work of the bowlers.

The Australia bowlers were also impressive. Xavier Doherty was the standout with a miserly 2 for 24 from his ten overs but there were other positives from the hosts in the field. Starc hooped the new ball and claimed an early wicket, Christian picked up two victims to add to his handy 33 with the bat, Clint McKay completed a terrific run-out from side-on and Matthew Wade enhanced his reputation with a stumping and a wonderful diving catch.

Despite the early loss of Upul Tharanga, who edged a Starc outswinger to Clarke at slip in the fourth over, Sri Lanka seemed to have the chase in control as Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara and Dinesh Chandimal all looked comfortable at the crease. It was a Sri Lankan error - and a great throw from McKay - that led to Sangakkara's dismissal for 22 when he pushed into the leg side and took off for a single.

But both he and his partner Dilshan hesitated after a few steps, and the stop-start confusion resulted in Sangakkara trying to return to his crease only to be beaten by a side-on direct hit from the bowler McKay, who had collected the ball from short midwicket. As he walked off, Sangakkara directed a glare towards Dilshan, knowing that if their 50-run stand had continued a while longer, Sri Lanka would have been in a terrific position.

Instead, Dilshan's scoring-rate slowed - he had struck three searing boundaries through the off side early in his innings - and on 40 from 56 deliveries he was caught behind off Ryan Harris when the ball tickled the inside edge. Another straightforward catch to Wade followed when Mahela Jayawardene tried to steer Christian to third man but succeeded only in feathering behind.

In the next over Doherty struck the first of his two blows. The WACA is not known as a spinner's paradise but Doherty extracted severe turn in to the left-hander Lahiru Thirimanne, who saw the ball pitch outside off and sneak between bat and pad to take the leg stump. Impressed by what he saw from Doherty, Clarke decided to bowl some left-arm spin himself and broke through with his first ball when, from around the wicket, he skidded one on and struck Chandimal in front for 37.

That was followed by an excellent catch from Wade, who dived to his right in front of first slip to snare Nuwan Kulasekara off the bowling of Christian. At 7 for 143, Sri Lanka's hopes seemed to have disappeared, a feeling that was only enforced further when Doherty turned a ball past the outside edge of an advancing Sachithra Senanayake, who was stumped by Wade, and when Lasith Malinga edged behind off McKay.

At that stage, Sri Lanka still needed 52 runs, and through Mathews and Prasad they nearly got there. At the change of innings they deserved to be favourites. Jaywardene had sent Australia in, and while it was an unexpected decision it proved not a bad one as Sri Lanka's sharp fielding helped restrict Australia to 231.

Clarke (57) had assistance from Christian during the only half-century partnership of the innings but when the offspinner Sachithra Senanayake broke that stand in the 40th over Australia faced the prospect of not batting out their time. Christian was stumped for 33 when he failed to pick the straighter delivery and Clarke fell in the following over.

He was the victim of an excellent catch by the opposing captain, Jayawardene, who moved low to his right to snaffle the chance at midwicket off the bowling of Angelo Mathews. Clarke had not found it easy to keep the scoring-rate up and had struck only four boundaries in his 88-ball stay, but until that moment he had at least provided an anchor for the innings

Some useful late runs came from McKay and Starc, and Sri Lanka would ultimately rue the 39 runs added by the last two pairs. McKay had survived an edge behind on 15 when Sangakkara didn't cleanly pouch a low ball, and it was a rare miss for Sri Lanka in what was generally an impressive fielding effort.

Several Australia batsmen fell to fine catches: David Hussey's leading edge off Malinga was collected at cover by Thirimanne, who had to dive forward and to his left, and Clarke was snapped up by a quick-moving Jayawardene at midwicket off the bowling of Mathews. But the best was Kulasekara's return catch to get rid of Michael Hussey for 23. He pushed at a fuller ball from Kulasekara, who dived to his right to take a wonderful one-handed catch.

Kulasekara had also been the man who gave Sri Lanka their positive start, when he picked up a wicket in the fourth over, when Wade prodded outside off and edged behind for 1. Wade was the quiet partner in the opening stand as David Warner played a few shots that encouraged the Perth crowd to think a repeat of his blazing Test hundred at the venue might be in the making.

His lofted six off over long-on against Malinga was the standout stroke, but on 34 from 28 deliveries he played on to Mathews, who got a ball to straighten just enough. It was the first of several good things Mathew did in the match. Unfortunately for Sri Lanka, they needed one more.

Highlights

• The 46-run stand between Angelo Mathews and Dhammika Prasad is Sri Lanka's second-highest for the 10th wicket in ODIs.
• Mathews' 64 is the highest score by a Sri Lankan No.7 batsman in Australia. In five innings in Australia, Mathews averages 100, at a strike rate of 93.02.
• Sri Lanka have lost 15 out of 17 ODIs in Perth. Their last win here was in 1996 against West Indies. Since then, they've lost each of their nine ODIs.
• Sri Lanka's win-loss ratio in Perth is the lowest among all teams except Zimbabwe.
• Australia have a 22-15 win-loss record in ODIs at the WACA, and have won each of their nine games against Sri Lanka at this venue.
• Australia's total of 231 is the lowest that they've defended against Sri Lanka in Perth. On the five previous occasions when they'd batted first, their lowest was 236.
• Michael Clarke averages 63.73 in 26 ODI inningsagainst Sri Lanka. He has scored nine fifties against them, which equals his highest against any team - he also has as many fifties against England.

India Beat Sri Lanka By 4 Wickets

India v Sri Lanka, CB Series, Perth

India 234 for 6 (Kohli 77, Ashwin 30*) beat Sri Lanka 233 for 8 (Chandimal 64, Dilshan 48, Zaheer 2-44, Ashwin 3-32) by four wickets

India's feted openers exited too early, and the inexperienced middle order succumbed to old failings, but their bowling allrounders Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin showed admirable poise to steer a wobbly chase home. Virat Kohli's authoritative 77 set the agenda for India, but they began to falter when he contracted cramps around the mid-point of the innings. His exit, run out while attempting a hopeless single, meant India had lost their sixth wicket 53 adrift of the target. Ashwin and Jadeja guided India to the finish, braving the Lasith Malinga threat and the epidemic bout of nerves that had blighted the middle order.

Sri Lanka deserved a part of the blame, for not going hard enough at India after Kohli's fall. Malinga, who yorked the stumps with a typical sling-shot throw from mid-on to catch a diving Kohli short in the 36th over, had four overs left. Mahela Jayawardene brought his trump card on quickly, but didn't provide him with the Test-match fields that the situation demanded. Malinga was off after two quick overs that were handled well, and by the time he returned for the 45th over, India needed only 17 more runs. It was too late - Ashwin and Jadeja had played themselves in, and ticked the runs away with composure.

The only moment of indiscretion came when India needed one run to win. Ashwin tried to loft Angelo Mathews down the ground and mis-hit it straight up in the air. Three men converged, and mid-off, who should have taken it easily, backed off following some tragic miscommunication, as India scrambled through for the win. That the fielder at mid-off was Malinga was fitting - he just didn't turn up in the end overs.

The batting effort capped Ashwin's best day on tour, when he reduced his pace, tossed up the ball, and extracted a lot more spin than is the norm at Perth. He came into the attack at an ideal moment, soon after Zaheer Khan had extracted Kumar Sangakkara in the 17th over with a peachy away seamer. That was Zaheer's second moment of excellence against a left-hand batsman, after he took just 10 balls in his opening spell to work over Upul Tharanga. Thereafter, Ashwin applied the squeeze, suffocating Sri Lanka's momentum in partnership with Zaheer. Between them, they reaped combined returns of 20-2-76-5. That included 14 of the 20 Powerplay overs, which yielded 4 for 42.

Such was their control, that India were allowed to coast despite the Kumars, Praveen and Vinay, enduring an off day. If not for Dinesh Chandimal's adhesive 64 in the middle overs, and Angelo Mathews' sortie at the death, Sri Lanka would have finished with a far poorer score. Despite their efforts, the indications were that they were about 25 runs short - a prediction that was vindicated when India won with 20 balls to spare.

Tillakaratne Dilshan fought through Zaheer's opening burst, and was primed to take off after beavering his way to 48, but gifted his wicket away. Chandimal took charge, walking across his stumps to clip Praveen fine, steering with soft hands into the covers and setting himself up early for swings to the leg side. He had added 52 in 11.2 overs with Jayawardene, at which point Ashwin began to wield his influence.

The carom ball was scarcely used, as Ashwin focused on loop, drift and traditional turn to good effect. He first induced Jayawardene to top-edge a sweep to fine leg in the batting Powerplay. He then dented hopes of a quick recovery by weaving a sharp offbreak past Thisara Perera, before dismissing Chandimal in the 44th over. That put paid to Sri Lanka's prospects of a flying finish, though Mathews slogged hard and ran harder to provide some late succour.

Sri Lanka's all-seam attack, in contrast to their opponents earlier in the day, attempted to use pace and bounce to unsettle India. Virender Sehwag perished attempting his patent upper-cut, which did not carry beyond third man. Sachin Tendulkar's fans enjoyed 48 runs of sublime batting, before he once again succumbed without completing the most eagerly anticipated century in cricket history. Until he played on to Mathews, attempting a cheeky dab to third man, Tendulkar lined up a bunch of pleasing shots, with head stationary and feet moving well. A firm front-foot push off Malinga was as good as any stroke played until then in the day, until Kohli began to dazzle.

Kohli imperiously flicked his second ball through square leg for four. The extra pace on the pitch seemed to play into Kohli's hands, as he pranced into position early to play attacking shots on either side of the pitch. His control was epitomised by the ease with which he pulled a pacy Dhammika Prasad bumper through square leg. Rohit Sharma's lethargic movements at the other end were only accentuated by Kohli's quick feet and hands.

India were coasting when Rohit played a loose cut to be caught at point. Suresh Raina kept the flag aflutter with a couple of pleasing cover drives, but the threat of the short ball was imminently around the corner. With Kohli cramping, Raina took it upon himself to go for the boundaries, and holed out while trying to pull Mathews. MS Dhoni too returned without making a dent, late on a pull that spiralled to mid-on. When Kohli ran himself out, India had lost three big wickets for 24 in 3.5 overs. Unfortunately for Sri Lanka, that was the last time Malinga hit the stumps.

India Vs Australia 3rd Test at Perth Cricinfo

In WACA Attack would be best defence for India 

Attack would be the best defence for India against a rampaging Australian pace battery when the two sides square off on the dreaded greentop wicket of WACA in the do-or-die third cricket Test starting on Friday.

Down 0-2 in the four-Test series, the Indians would be loathe to let a lot of deliveries go past their off-stump and allow the pressure to build in the WACA Test -- as has been the method of Australians in this series.

From Michael Clarke to James Pattinson to Peter Siddle to Mike Hussey, everyone has harped that bowling dot balls and stringing together maiden overs is the surest way to plot the downfall of this famed Indian batting line-up.

Wicketkeeper Brad Haddin went a step further by stating that Sachin Tendulkar doesn’t like it if he doesn’t “feel bat on ball and he wants to get into a rhythm...if we can push him a little wider, make him feel for the ball a bit, we can build enough pressure to get a chance and it’s worked in the last two Tests.”

The Indians now want to carry the attack into the rivals camp and it is a theory which is supported by possibly India’s greatest batsman against pace among the last two generations -- Mohinder Amarnath, now a national selector.

Just before he flew back to India after watching India go down abysmally in the first two Tests of this Australian summer, Amarnath mentioned he always believed a good pace battery can only be tamed and never worn down by a battle of attrition.

It’s a point which history lends support to -- the only way to tame a pack of hounds is to gun them down and not by sparring with them.

Amarnath played a few of his most stirring innings against pace attacks of Pakistan and West Indies between 1980-82.

In a withering space of two away series and successive 11 Tests, standing up to the pace of Imran Khan, Sarfraz Nawaz, Sikandar Bakht, Michael Holding, Andy Roberts, Malcolm Marshall and Joel Garner, Amarnath scored nearly 1200 runs with five hundreds and seven fifties -- an awe-inspiring feat to which there are no parallels in world cricket.

Amarnath never took a step back and two of his innings which have found place in cricketing folklore were the 91 and 80 he hit during the Barbados Test of 1982-83 series. This was nearly 50 per cent of India’s two innings of 209 and 277 against the West Indies’ fearsome pace quartet.

Amarnath was smashed in his mouth by a Marshall delivery and blood poured out in a gush during the second innings.

Amarnath went out only to have stitches done and then returned to attack on his way to 80.

Sunil Gavaskar was a man fighting for his career after Marshall infamously made him “drop” his bat in a Test in Kanpur in 1983.

He “unfurled” a shot he had left in his locker of strokes for too long -- the majestic hook with which he tamed Marshall and Co. and scored a stirring 121 off only 128 balls in New Delhi in the very next Test.

Dilip Vengsarkar too firmly believed that fast bowlers needed to be tamed and attacked at all times. He had two successive hundreds in 1983-84 -- 159 off 236 balls and 100 off 135 balls -- where he hit out with gay abandon against rampant West Indian quicks.

A few most stirring innings of ‘World Series Cricket’ in late 70s were played by Greg Chappell. In five ‘Super Tests’ of that unauthorised series, Chappell slammed 621 runs at 69 and his cutting and hooking against the West Indian quicks is still spoken of with awe.

The problems for the Indians in this series have been accentuated by the Australians’ reliance on green pitches to do the trick.

There aren’t many short deliveries bowled at batsmen -- except to lower order -- and the reliance has been on bowling seaming stuff around the off-stump.

“We came here with the belief that the bowling would be back-of-length kind in Australia where we needed to spar or duck under the lifting delivery.

“Instead, they are bowling fuller and there is a grass cover to help them obtain that critical swing. From worrying about the backfoot, we are now forced on the front-foot and it has compounded our problems,” said a young batsman of Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s team.

Most Indian batsmen are very good square of the wicket.

But Virender Sehwag’s two unfortunate dismissals off rank short balls have forced batsmen to leave deliveries on the off-stump.

It’s not the preferred way -- Indians must cut hard and pull and hook-whenever possible -- to force the Australians to abandon the strategy of bowling dot balls and stringing together maiden overs.

Amarnath once famously said, “facing fast bowling is like facing a heavyweight boxer in the ring. There’s no running away.”