SL v Aus 4th ODI: Bailey, Hastings star as Australia clinch series

DAMBULLA: George Bailey led the batting with an unbeaten 90 after fast bowler John Hastings took a career-best six wicket haul to propel Australia to a series-clinching six-wicket win over Sri Lanka in their fourth one-day international on Wednesday. The victory gave Australia an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series. Sri Lanka chose to bat first after winning the toss and was bowled out for 212 runs in their allotted 50 overs. Dhananjaya de Silva top scored with 76 and Hastings returned 6-45, improving on his previous best of 4-58 against India earlier this year. Sri Lankan skipper Angelo Mathews scored a gutsy 40 after being struck on the back of his helmet off a Boland bouncer In reply, Australia reached 217-4 with 19 overs to spare. Bailey scored his runs off 93 balls hitting a six and 11 boundaries. Opening batsman Aaron Finch, who equaled the fastest fifty by an Australian smashed 8 fours and 3 sixes on his way to 55 off 26 balls to help Australia take control of its chase. Sachith Pathirana returned a career-best 3-37 for Sri Lanka. Australia started the chase aggressively, scoring its first 50 runs inside four overs. Left-arm spinner Pathirana took two wickets in the sixth over with Australia's total on 74 to bring Sri Lanka back to the game. He then trapped Finch and Usman Khawaja (0) lbw three balls apart, before bowling out David Warner (19) to leave Australia on 97-3. But Bailey and Travis Head (40) combined for a 100-run partnership for the fourth wicket to ensure victory for Australia. Sri Lanka lost an opportunity to put the tourists under more pressure when Head was bowled by off spinner Dilruwan Perera on 13 off a no-ball. When he was eventually dismissed, Australia had the match in control. Earlier, Hastings' career-best performance helped Australia hold Sri Lanka to a modest total, with the hosts making a poor start after their captain Angelo Mathews chose to bat first. The 18-year-old opening batsman Avishka Fernando, making his international debut, was out for a second-ball duck and the hosts then slipped to 31-3. Opener de Silva top-scored with 76 and shared a stand of 84 with Mathews for the fourth wicket. But the momentum was lost when Mathews left the field with a calf injury. He returned later and scored 40. De Silva faced 87 balls and hit nine boundaries for his first ODI half-century. The last match of the series will be played in Pallekele on Sunday.