Team Sri Lanka must have been smiling ear to ear with the sight of the sun shining over Rose Bowl Cricket Ground, Southampton. But alas! Their faces turned pale after they lost against Australia by 87 runs in the CWC 2019 tie. So here’s how the match went. After winning the toss, Sri Lanka elected to bowl first. The team got an early breakthrough as David Warner was sent packing on the score of 26 runs. Australian captain Aaron Finch stayed back and scored 153 runs and thus broke a few milestones including leading the list of most individual hundreds in World Cup history. Usman Khawaja was the next one to go on the score of 10 runs. AUS beat SL by 87 runs. 

But Steve Smith and Aaron Finch had a partnership of 173 runs and ushered the team to a bigger total. Glenn Maxwell’s 46 put Australia on the fourth gear and the team made a total of 334 runs on the board. In reply, Sri Lanka’s captain Dinmuth Karunaratne and Kusal Perera gave a blistering start to the team as they jointly contributed with 115 runs. At one point in time, it looked as if the Lankan tigers would walk away with an easy win. Dimuth Karunaratne Miss Maiden ODI Century by Four Runs in AUS vs SL CWC 2019 Game; Registers Fourth-Highest Score by a Sri Lankan Captain at World Cups. 

But Mitchell Starc sprang into action snapping four vital wickets. Kane Richardson chipped in with three. Pat Cummins got three wickets. None of the other batsmen from the team could go beyond the score of 30. As a result, Australia went on to beat Sri Lanka comprehensively by 87 runs.

Now, let’s check a few stats of the match.

# Aaron Finch went past Ricky Ponting who had scored 140 runs. Now, Finch tops the list of most individual hundreds in World Cup history.

# The Aussie captain recorded his 8th ODI score of more than 50 runs in 2019, which happens to be his most ever in a calendar year.

# Dimuth Karunaratne got dismissed for 97 runs. This is the fourth time that Sri Lanka batsman has fallen in the 90s in the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup match.

With this win, Australia now sits on the top of ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 points table with eight points. Whereas, Sri Lanka is now positioned on the number five spot with four points in their kitty.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 15, 2019 11:55 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).