Clarke praises bowlers
February 11, 2012 18:19:09 UK
Australia captain Michael Clarke has hailed his side's bowling performance in their defeat of Sri Lanka in Friday's Commonwealth Bank Series match.
The home side were able to put just 231 runs on the board for Sri Lanka to chase, but the fine bowling efforts of Clarke's men enabled them to claim the match by just five runs.
Mitchell Starc and Xavier Doherty were the pick of the Australian bowlers, who were branded the weakest link by Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene before the match.
Australia are 1.50 to defeat India in the fourth ODI match. The tourists themselves are 2.62 to get the win.
At one point in the Sri Lankan innings, the hosts were in total control of the match. They had dismissed seven Lankan batsmen for just 143 runs, but the Asian team's all-rounder Angelo Mathews came to his side's rescue with a sensible innings of 64 from just 76 deliveries.
Mathews kept his team in the game and stayed out there until almost the very end of the game, before being caught in the deep when trying to hit what would have been a game-winning six.
Despite almost letting the game out of their hands, Clarke was content with his bowlers, especially Starc and Doherty.
"A lot of credit has to go to our bowlers. I thought in the first 45 overs of the game we bowled beautifully. We were probably 30 runs short of what we should have scored on that wicket ... and we had to bowl and field very well tonight to restrict a very good batting line-up, so I think they deserve a lot of credit," Clarke said in the post-match interview.
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