David Warner got out on a score of 99 and missed his well deserved hundred by just 1 run against Sri Lanka in the 4th ODI of the Series. He was quite unfortunate because he was playing so good.
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Earlier Australia had won the toss and decided to bowl first. Sri Lanka lost an early wicket as maxi managed to dismiss dickwella for just 1. Soon the last match heroes kusal Mendis and pathum nissanka were also dismissed quickly by cummins and Marsh respectively reeling Sri Lanka at 34/3. Asalanka and dhananjaya de Silva counter-attacked the Aussie bowlers with a partnership of 101 runs in just 99 balls.
Dhananjaya was dismissed by Mitchell Marsh thanks to a one-handed stunner by Glenn Maxwell at mid-wicket. Despite of losing wickets at regular intervals, Asalanka played an outstanding innings as he notched his maiden odi century in just 99 balls. But the Australians managed to dismiss Sri Lanka for 258 runs as they last their last 3 wickets for just 2 runs.
Chasing 259 runs, Australia didn’t got to a great start as finch got pinned LBW by Chamika Karunaratne as his weakness vs incoming deliveries are exposed once again. Warner and Mitchell Marsh steadied the innings with a 63-run partnership. Marsh was dismissed by the impressive young bowler Dunith Wellalage. Warner continued to bat aggressively vs the spinners but sri-lanka bowlers managed to pick the wickets at regular intervals as the Aussie batsman wasted their starts once again like in 2nd ODI. Warner added 58 runs with head and took australia to 189/4 needing just 70 runs to win.
But dhananjaya managed to break the partnership. Soon maxi was plumbed lbw for 1 by theekshana to put aus in trouble at 190/6. Dhananjaya produced a peach of a delivery to dismiss warner for 99 as the ball turned away to beat his bat and Dickwella managed to stump him out leaving him 1 short of his first international century since Jan 2020. Cummins and Green tried to bring Australia back with a partnership of 31 but Vandersay got the wicket for green for 13. Cummins carried the Australia hopes with a knock of 31 but he was dismissed due to a fierce yorker by chamika karunaratne.
Australia needed 19 runs in 5 balls, then Kuhneman tried his best by smashing 14 runs in 4 balls, leaving Australia 5 runs to win from last ball. Shanaka kept his cool and bowled a slower ball which Kahneman only could sky towards Asalanka at cover as sri lanka sealed a 4-run victory in the 4th ODI giving Sri-anka an unassailable 3-1 lead.
