Bracken's favourite opponents, and Gilchrist goes slow

Stats highlights from the third ODI of the CB Series, between Australia and Sri Lanka, in Sydney

Feb 8, 2008, 1:24 PM

Stats highlights from the third ODI of the CB Series, between Australia and Sri Lanka, in Sydney.

Adam Gilchrist's 81-ball 61 is his slowest fifty-plus score in ODIs at home © Getty Images

Sri Lanka's 128-run defeat is their tenth in 14 ODIs at the Sydney Cricket Ground. They've won four games here, which is their highest in any Australian venue. (Click here for Sri Lanka's ODI record at each Australian venue.) Australia, meanwhile, notched up their 19th win here in 25 matches since 2000. (Click here for Australia's record at all home venues since 2000.)

The star of the show for Australia was Nathan Bracken, who took his second five-wicket haul in ODIs, and further improved his already impressive record against Sri Lanka: in ten games against them, he has a rich haul of 27 wickets at a splendid average of 13.48. Of the five times when he has taken four or more wickets in an innings, three have been against Sri Lanka.

Michael Clarke had an excellent match too, and he doesn't seem to mind playing the Sri Lankans either: in 14 innings against them, he has scored 462 runs at an average of 66 and a strike rate of 94.47. Ironically, he scored ducks in his first two innings against them; since then, he has been dismissed for less than 20 just once.

The only other half-centurion in the game was Adam Gilchrist, whose uncharacteristically slow effort - 61 off 81 balls - indicates conditions at the SCG weren't so easy for run-scoring. His strike of 75.30 is the third-slowest among his 69 fifty-plus scores. His two previous slowest efforts had come in Galle and Sharjah, making this his slowest fifty-plus innings at home. Despite this innings, Gilchrist's strike rate against Sri Lanka remains better than a run a ball: in 27 innings, he averages 48.29 against them, at a scoring rate of 105.58 runs per 100 balls.

The 65-run opening partnership was the 45th fifty-plus stand for the first wicket between Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden, which is a record. They earlier shared the mark with Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar, who have 44.

Chaminda Vaas became the first Sri Lankan bowler to take 50 ODI wickets in Australia. Overall, ten other overseas bowlers have achieved this feat.

Gilchrist has effected 182 dismissals in Australia, which is a record for a wicketkeeper at home. Mark Boucher has 181. (Gilchrist's tally includes two dismissals for the ICC World XI against an Asia XI in Melbourne in January 2005.)

Brett Lee equalled Shane Warne's mark of 136 ODI wickets in Australia when he dismissed Sanath Jayasuriya. Glenn McGrath, with 161 scalps, is the only bowler with more ODI wickets in Australia.

Adam Gilchrist Australia Sri Lanka Australia vs Sri Lanka Commonwealth Bank Series