White the hero as Australia crush Sri Lanka

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados: Cameron White gave Australia the chance to inflict a mammoth 81-run defeat upon Sri Lanka in the World Twenty20 Super Eights at the Kensington Oval here on Sunday.

Sri Lanka were bowled out for just 87, with more than three overs to spare, in reply to Australia''s 168 for five from their full 20 overs.

But Australia themselves collapsed to 30 for four and 67 for five before White, who made an unbeaten 85, and Michael Hussey (39 not out) shared an unbroken stand of 101 that changed the course of the game.

Sri Lanka opener Mahela Jayawardene''s previous scores this tournament were 81, 101 and 98 not out.

But his dismissal by fast bowler Dirk Nannes, this event''s leading wicket-taker, for just nine sparked a dramatic collapse.

Tillakaratne Dilshan (20) and Dinesh Chandimal (19) were the only Sri Lankan batsmen to make double figure scores.

Victory left Australia firmly in charge of Group F and only an extraordinary combination of results in St Lucia on Tuesday will deny them a semi-final spot.

Australia
S. Watson b Mathews 1
D. Warner c Jayawardene b Randiv 9
B. Haddin c Jayasuriya b Mathews 15
M. Clarke b Randiv 14
D. Hussey st Sangakkara b Randiv 0
C. White not out 85
M. Hussey not out 39

Extras (lb2, w1, nb2) 5

Total (5 wkts, 20 overs) 168

Did not bat: S Smith, M Johnson, S Tait, D Nannes

Fall of wickets: 1-2 (Watson), 2-20 (Haddin), 3-30 (Warner), 4-30 (D Hussey), 5-67 (Clarke)

Bowling: Mathews 4-0-24-2; Welegedara 4-0-40-0 (1nb, 1w); Randiv 4-0-20-3; Malinga 4-0-40-0; Mendis 4-0-42-0 (1nb)

Sri Lanka
M. Jayawardene v Smith b Nannes 9
S. Jayasuriya lbw b Nannes 5
K. Sangakkara c Haddin b Tait 2
T. Dilshan c White b Johnson 20
A. Mathews c M Hussey b Johnson 8
D. Chandimal st Haddin b Smith 19
C. Kapugedera b Smith 12
S. Randiv run out (Nannes) 2
L. Malinga c Smith b Clarke 1
A. Mendis b Johnson 1
C. Welegedara not out 2

Extras (lb2, w4) 6

Total (all out, 16.2 overs) 87

Fall of wickets: 1-16 (Jayawardene), 2-18 (Sangakkara), 3-26 (Jayasuriya), 4-48 (Dilshan), 5-49 (Mathews), 6-73 (Kapugedera), 7-83 (Randiv), 8-83 (Chandimal), 9-84 (Malinga), 10-87 (Mendis)

Bowling: Nannes 3-0-19-2; Tait 2-0-10-1 (2w); Watson 3-0-27-0; Johnson 3.2-0-15-3 (1w); Smith 4-1-12-2 (1w); Clarke 1-0-2-1

Toss: Australia
Result: Australia won by 81 runs
Man-of-the-match: Cameron White (AUS)
Umpires: Ian Gould (ENG) and Rudi Koertzen (RSA)
TV umpire: Billy Doctrove (WIS)
Match referee: Jeff Crowe (NZL)