Australia vs Sri Lanka, 3rd Final at Adelaide, Mar 08 2012 - Ball by Ball Commentary

Presentation time:

McKay, is the Man of the Match: "The batting was important to the situation in this game. It's great to be back in this squad. I had to keep the six by Dhoni (at Adelaide) out of my head."

The Man of the Series is Dilshan: "We played very well throughout but today we didn't finish well. We've played great cricket after SA. I took the wrong option against Lee, but they bowled and fielded well. I'm enjoying my one-day cricket. Thanks for all the support and the fans who've come from Melbourne."

Jayawardene: "Initially if we were given 231 we would have taken it. They put a lot of pressure on us, one of those days. Very proud of the boys against two quality teams. The objective is to rebuild for the next four years and we've learnt a lot and I'm proud of the youngsters."

Clarke: "Much better team without me I reckon. All the boys have a few more grey hairs. Hopefully I will get to Windies at the back-end of the one-dayers. Watson's done another good job. I think we continue to see the strength of our domestic set up, getting guys ready for Australia."

Australia pose with the trophy. That ends the Australia home season. Will they revert to the tri-series concept? Nobody knows.

So Australia go to Windies, Sri Lanka go to Bangladesh. And the rest of us go home. Thanks for joining us today. Sri Lanka, don't despair. You did great getting to the finals despite all the off-field tension about payments. Continue the good work. Cheers!

End of match: That concludes one of the most open tri-series in Australia in recent times. Sri Lanka probably never expected to hold the edge over Australia coming into the first final, but they made Australia sweat. In the end, the visitors were made to work hard and also pay for those soft dismissals at the top.

McKay's showing has added to the depth to Australia's bowling attack, with Pattinson and Cummins around. In the final analysis, it brings to an end a very rewarding home season after the Ashes drubbing last year.

There will be an extended presentation today, given it's the final. It's these middling totals that make ODI cricket more watchable. Sri Lanka's resurgence has also made this tournament more watchable, and of course Kohli's blinder, which gave the final league game some context.

Some comments:

Squirrelson: "Clint McKay is much much better than Hilfenhaus and Harris. They are one dimentional and one trick ponies. Poor McKay is always the one getiing dropped after losses even if it's not his fault. How id he suppose to get into rhythm if he keeps on getting dropped? He should be picked in the Test XI as well. When things are not going Australia's way, he's got a bag full of tricks and a great team man. Slower balls are under-estimated and under-used in test

Saradhi: "It shall be long time before I forget this series, thank you SL for fond memories."

Australia's lower order resistance proving so crucial here.

Australia really holding their nerve here

Tharanga still hasn't taken his helmet off. He's still dazed