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26.4 overs Australia 74 (Starc 22*, Kulasekara 5-22, Malinga 3-14) v Sri Lanka
Nuwan Kulasekara destroyed Australia with lethal inswing © Getty Images
An astonishing spell of fearsome inswing bowling from Nuwan Kulasekara decimated Australia's top order, before Lasith Malinga tore down the tail to damn the hosts to 74 all out, their second lowest ODI total ever. Kulasekara finished with 5 for 22 from his 10 overs, eclipsing the 4 for 40 that had previously been his best haul. Only a final-wicket partnership worth 34 saw Australia avoid recording their lowest ever total, which remains 70.
Having rested several key players for the first two matches, Australia returned to near-full strength at Brisbane, with Michael Clarke, David Warner and Matthew Wade arriving to bolster the batting, but none of them could make it to double figures. In fact, only the last pair of Mitchell Starc and Xavier Doherty did.
Clarke had chosen to bat first on a pitch he believed to be full of runs - an assessment he shared with Mahela Jayawardene, who also would have batted - but although there was not much live grass on the surface, both men seem to have underestimated the effect of Brisbane's humidity. It was in the air that Kulasekara won the battle, not off the pitch.
Few batsmen are equipped to negate the amount of movement he achieved, particularly in the middle of his spell, but the lateness of Kulasekara's inswing made him almost unplayable. The deliveries that bowled Clarke and Moises Henriques began about a metre outside off stump, and only began to move around halfway down the pitch, when the batsman had already committed himself to a stroke.
Both men played for big inswing, but as the ball swerved hard at the stumps like a snake suddenly smelling prey, they still had their inside edges beaten, and their woodwork rattled. George Bailey had made a similar mistake first ball, only he had offered no stroke to a delivery he believed to be passing safely outside offstump, and it struck him flush on the front pad and would have hit middle and off.
Sri Lanka's bowlers only mustered modest swing to begin with, but Angelo Mathews used a little extra bounce to dismiss Warner, who holed out to mid on playing a cross-batted stroke that was ill-judged in any case. Warner had been among the runs during the Test leg of the tour, and the manner of his dismissal in Brisbane may add heat to the debate about Australia's rotation policy, and whether batsmen are being done a disservice by being rested when they are in form.
Kulasekara worked himself into a honeyed rhythm after that dismissal, and by the 12th over, had embarrassed Australia's first-choice team. His first two scalps were the result of fine catching as well as great bowling, as Jayawardene held on to a tough chance off Phillip Hughes' bat at third slip, before wicketkeeper Kushal Perera dove to his left to snaffle David Hussey's inside edge.
Malinga also found movement in the air when he came into the attack at 6 for 30, and removed Mitchell Johnson with an inswinging yorker in his second over, before taking a wicket each in of his two next overs.
Doherty was circumspect at the crease to begin with, leaving the strokemaking to Starc, who was intent on making the best of a bad situation, and the pair rode their luck for eight overs, before Shaminda Eranga ended the innings with a slower ball.
Nuwan Kulasekara destroyed Australia with lethal inswing © Getty Images
An astonishing spell of fearsome inswing bowling from Nuwan Kulasekara decimated Australia's top order, before Lasith Malinga tore down the tail to damn the hosts to 74 all out, their second lowest ODI total ever. Kulasekara finished with 5 for 22 from his 10 overs, eclipsing the 4 for 40 that had previously been his best haul. Only a final-wicket partnership worth 34 saw Australia avoid recording their lowest ever total, which remains 70.
Having rested several key players for the first two matches, Australia returned to near-full strength at Brisbane, with Michael Clarke, David Warner and Matthew Wade arriving to bolster the batting, but none of them could make it to double figures. In fact, only the last pair of Mitchell Starc and Xavier Doherty did.
Clarke had chosen to bat first on a pitch he believed to be full of runs - an assessment he shared with Mahela Jayawardene, who also would have batted - but although there was not much live grass on the surface, both men seem to have underestimated the effect of Brisbane's humidity. It was in the air that Kulasekara won the battle, not off the pitch.
Few batsmen are equipped to negate the amount of movement he achieved, particularly in the middle of his spell, but the lateness of Kulasekara's inswing made him almost unplayable. The deliveries that bowled Clarke and Moises Henriques began about a metre outside off stump, and only began to move around halfway down the pitch, when the batsman had already committed himself to a stroke.
Both men played for big inswing, but as the ball swerved hard at the stumps like a snake suddenly smelling prey, they still had their inside edges beaten, and their woodwork rattled. George Bailey had made a similar mistake first ball, only he had offered no stroke to a delivery he believed to be passing safely outside offstump, and it struck him flush on the front pad and would have hit middle and off.
Sri Lanka's bowlers only mustered modest swing to begin with, but Angelo Mathews used a little extra bounce to dismiss Warner, who holed out to mid on playing a cross-batted stroke that was ill-judged in any case. Warner had been among the runs during the Test leg of the tour, and the manner of his dismissal in Brisbane may add heat to the debate about Australia's rotation policy, and whether batsmen are being done a disservice by being rested when they are in form.
Kulasekara worked himself into a honeyed rhythm after that dismissal, and by the 12th over, had embarrassed Australia's first-choice team. His first two scalps were the result of fine catching as well as great bowling, as Jayawardene held on to a tough chance off Phillip Hughes' bat at third slip, before wicketkeeper Kushal Perera dove to his left to snaffle David Hussey's inside edge.
Malinga also found movement in the air when he came into the attack at 6 for 30, and removed Mitchell Johnson with an inswinging yorker in his second over, before taking a wicket each in of his two next overs.
Doherty was circumspect at the crease to begin with, leaving the strokemaking to Starc, who was intent on making the best of a bad situation, and the pair rode their luck for eight overs, before Shaminda Eranga ended the innings with a slower ball.