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Australia have overcome the loss of captain Michael Clarke and
averted disaster by squaring the one-day series against Sri Lanka
at 2-2 with a tough 32-run victory at Bellerive.
An unbeaten century from Phil Hughes, and three wickets apiece from
Xavier Doherty and Moises Henriques have helped the home side to a
fighting win, after they were down 1-2 in the series.
Without their skipper and best player due to an ankle injury, and
less than a week after being bowled out for 74, a disastrous 1-3
loss on home soil beckoned.
But Hughes cracked 138 from 154 balls - his highest ODI score - to
anchor Australia's 247-5 and set up a daunting run chase for Sri
Lanka.
Doherty (3-21) then removed three of the tourists' top four and
Henriques (3-32) made crucial breakthroughs to drag Australia off
the canvas.
The Sri Lankans had cruised to 57-0 before losing 4-20 to all, but
crash out of the decider.
They were 57-1 when Mahela Jayawardene, in his last match as
captain, was caught for 38 from 39 balls, attempting to chip
Doherty over the infield.
Doherty struck again in his next over, when he had Lahiru
Thirimanne (1 from 10) caught in the deep at 2-62.
When Henriques had Tillakaratne Dilshan (19 from 48) caught behind,
it was 71-3 and Doherty bowled Dinesh Chandimal (6 from 10) for
77-4.
A patient 79-run stand between Angelo Mathews (67 from 79) and
Jeevan Mendis (26 from 40) for the sixth wicket would have
brought flashbacks of Mathews' matchwinning performance at the MCG
in 2010.
But Henriques bowled Mendis in the 44th over at 187-6 and Mitchell
Johnson (2-45) removed Mathews without a run being added to have
the home side in sight of victory.
Earlier, Hughes' second hundred of the series included 13 fours
and a six, with David Hussey the home side's next best with 34 from
39.
Sri Lankan swing bowler Nuwan Kulasekara was named man of the
series for his 11 wickets.
Man of the match Hughes said the Australians had shown plenty of
fight in grinding out the win.
"We would have loved to have won it, but the position we were in
when we came here, we were really behind in the series," he said.
"To bounce back here like we did tonight, it showed fight from all
the boys and that's a really pleasing thing to show that
fight."
Jayawardene was ruing the series that got away, after the fourth
game in Sydney was washed out when Australia had made just
222-9.
"It's tough to get over something like this, but we've played some
good cricket, so we can take something very positive from the
entire series," he said.
"Sydney was disappointing, but even here today was a bit
disappointing, because I think if you're chasing anything under
250, it's very much gettable with the new field
restrictions."
Clarke failed to recover from an ankle injury he suffered in a
training drill on Tuesday, his place taken by spinning allrounder
Glenn Maxwell in a revamped batting order and George Bailey
captaining Australia for the first time on his home ground.
Clarke said X-rays had cleared him of any break, but he could need
an MRI scan. He has time on his side, with the first of Australia's
five one-day matches against the West Indies in Perth still nine
days away.
Tuesday's match was being played in front of 8102 fans on a day it
was announced a $30 million redevelopment of the ground would boost
the capacity from 15,000 to 19,500.
Collated board at the end of the fifth one-day international between Australia and Sri Lanka at Blundstone Arena
Australia
Wade lbw Kulasekara 23
Warner b Dilshan 10
Hughes not out 138
Bailey c&b T Perera 17
Hussey run out (T Perera) 34
Maxwell c Thirimanne b Malinga 9
Henriques not out 9
Extra 7
Total (for five wickets) 247
Bowling: T Dilshan 7-3-22-1, N Kulasekara 10-1-57-1, A Mathews 7-0-44-0, L Malinga 10-1-49-1, R Herath 10-2-34-0, T Perera 6-0-39-1
Sri Lanka
Jayawardene c Starc b Doherty 38
Dilshan c Wade b Henriques 19
Thirimane c Hussey b Doherty 1
Chandimal b Doherty 6
Mathews c Bailey b Johnson 67
K Perera c Warner b Johnson 14
Mendis b Henriques 26
T Perera b Henriques 7
Kulasekara not out 14
Herath c Henriques b McKay 2
Malinga c Johnson b McKay 2
Extras 19
Total 215
Bowling: McKay 9.3-0-51-2, Starc 9-0-48-0, Johnson
10-0-45-2, Doherty 8-1-21-3, Henriques 10-1-32-3, Maxwell
2-0-6-0
Australia won by 32 runs, series drawn 2-2
Man of the Match: Phillip Hughes
Man of the Series: Nuwan Kulasekara