Melbourne: David Warner capped a brilliant return to form on home soil with a third successive half-century to fire Australia to a seven-wicket victory and a 3-0 series sweep of Sri Lanka in Melbourne on Friday.
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Having had a miserable Ashes in England, the hard-hitting lefthander continued his spring-time renaissance with an unbeaten 57 as Australia cruised past Sri Lanka’s modest total of 142 for six in 17.4 overs at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
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It was Warner’s third unbeaten knock of the one-sided series, having scored 100 in the opener in Adelaide and 60 at the Gabba on Wednesday.
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Warner whipped Nuwan Pradeep off his pads for four to bring up the winning runs, a fitting finish to his first international series at home since serving a 12-month ban for ball-tampering.
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“On a personal front, it’s good to come out here and churn some runs out,” Warner said after receiving both the player-of-the-match and player-of-the-series awards.
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“It’s good to get out in the middle and hit some out of the middle. Hopefully I can keep continuing this form over summer.” Warner finished the series with 217 runs at a stratospheric average of 147.00 and now heads into the next three-match T20 tournament against Pakistan in ominous form.
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Confined to paltry totals of 99 and 117 in the opening two matches, Sri Lanka’s batsmen had a slightly better showing in Melbourne, with Kusal Perera managing 57 off 45 balls.
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But with spearhead Mitchell Starc back in the home side after missing the Gabba match to attend a family wedding, Australia’s pacemen were again dominant.
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Starc and fellow quicks Pat Cummins and Kane Richardson grabbed two wickets apiece and bowled tight lines throughout to keep the Sri Lankan batsmen subdued.
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Sri Lanka finished the series with only six wickets from the three matches.
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Sri Lanka’s fast-bowling captain Lasith Malinga failed to turn up to the post-match presentation, raising speculation of an injury.
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Wicketkeeper-batsman Niroshan Dickwella went to the presentation in his place and played down his absence.
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“I think so, I think he must be in the dressing room,” Dickwella said when asked whether Malinga was alright.
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“From the game one we didn’t perform to our best, so we end up like this …. Definitely we learned a lot in this series.”
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Brief scores: Sri Lanka 142/6 (Kusal Perera 57, Mitchell Starc 2/32, Kane Richardson 2/25, Pat Cummins 2/23) Australia 145/3 in 17.4 overs (David Warner 57*)
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