Warner Finds His Voice Then Strains It

Warner 163 off 157

For a player of such explosive talent, it's taken Dave Warner a long time to find his voice in one day cricket and when he finally did, a quick turn near the end may have cost him an encore performance in Adelaide on Tuesday. Thanks to Warner and later in the game Shane Watson, Australia head into the second final of the CBA Series with the advantage, despite Sri Lanka again making a determined challenge to haul in what had seemed an unreachable target.

Warner's innings was a one day beauty but his first century in 19 ODI's. Even half centuries have been few and far between for the pocket dynamo who graduated to the Test team this season with two very different but never the less equally impressive centuries in Hobart and Perth. He was out off the last ball of the innings, having faced its first and hit 13 fours and 2 sixes in his better than run a ball 163. He shared partnerships of 136 with Matthew Wade, 50 with Shane Watson and 64 with Michael Clarke. Despite seeming shaky in the opening overs when Malinga snaked the ball back at his pads and Kulasekara found the edge by decking it away, his rapid scoring rate was maintained at a notch below full scale slaughter but importantly, he was backing himself again and playing shots - something he has seemed reluctant to do in this series.

Wade was equally impressive, with some of his shot making verging on the outright brutal and it took a remarkable catch on the boundary by Rangara Herath to remove him.

Clarke made a tactical error in changing the batting order in favour of a hitter, with Dan Christian taking Clarke's normal position at four. David Hussey batted at his usual five relegating Clarke to six. It was a gamble which cost the side momentum which the senior Hussey and Clarke had to resurrect. Almost every time this has been tried in the history of ODI cricket, it has failed. Good batsmen do what good batsmen do and should be left to do it.

Watson 3-33

In the end, 321 was more than enough and so it proved. Sri Lanka were terminal at 6-144, with Brett Lee impressive in his first two spells and David Hussey picking up three bonus wickets. Kulasekara and Upal Tharanga added 104 for the seventh wicket in just eleven overs, which made it interesting. Despite Clarke's concerns expressed after the game that Australia isn't bowling well "at the death", it was in fact in the overs between 35 and 40 that things became unstuck but Australia got things back on task for the final ten, a section of the innings where double figure overs are expected. Australia took four wickets in those overs and conceded only four overs of more than ten an over. Control over the rampant Sri Lankans was gained by Watson, who in the midst of the chaos, choked the run scoring and took three wickets. In the end, 15 runs was a comfortable margin.

Warner might have set up the victory but Watson secured it.