Rain halts play with Lanka in troubled waters

Heavy downpour halted play at the MCG with Sri Lanka on 77-4 in 29.3 overs after being set a target of 185 by Australia. At this stage, the visitors are 24 runs behind the score that would have won them the match according to the Duckworth Lewis method.
Sri Lanka got off to a disastrous start losing Sanath Jayasuriya in the second over. A wide slash off Stuart Clark when the batsman was yet to get off the mark, provided Ricky Ponting a regulation catch at second slip. Clark struck again in his next over, trapping Dilruwan Perera leg-before for one.
The visitors were in a spot of bother at 3-2 in the fourth over and were forced to turn once again to their most reliable pair of Kumar Sangakkara and captain Mahela Jayawardene to bail them out. The duo strung a 39-run stand with Jayawardene doing the bulk of the scoring. The skipper struck three boundaries in his knock before a lapse in concentration led to his undoing. Jayawardene, on 23, chased a wide one from Mitchell Johnson, giving Adam Gilchrist a simple catch to bring the prosperous partnership to an end.
Sangakkara departed soon for 22 as he top edged a James Hopes delivery and Andrew Symonds gulped the skier.
Chamara Silva, who got off to an extremely slow start, was batting on 16 while Tillekeratne Dilshan gave him company on nine when it started pouring at the MCG.
In the Australian innings, the top order failed to make a mark yet again in the CB series with Sri Lanka strangling the home-side to restrict them to 184-7.
Barring Michael Hussey and Michael Clarke, the Aussies failed to show stomach for the battle on a difficult pitch. The duo bailed out the Aussies from a precarious position around the 20-over mark.
Sri Lanka reaped the rewards of some disciplined bowling combined with tight fielding after putting Australia in. The Aussies were scuffled right from the start of their innings and soon panic struck. With only 12 runs in four overs, Adam Gilchrist stepped down the wicket to heave one over the 30-yard circle but Chaminda Vaas hit the stumps to send back the southpaw for six.
Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting, both short of runs in the series, hung around for a while with the run-rate hovering around just two runs per over. Australia were crawling rather uncharacteristically and Farveez Maharoof decided to get into the act to aggravate their woes further.