SL vs AUS, 5th ODI: Josh Hazlewood, Alex Carey secure consolation win for Australia

Australia took a consolation win in the fifth ODI against Sri Lanka with a four-wicket victory on Friday. Sri Lanka won the series 3-2.

Australia were in trouble while chasing a target of 161 in the dead rubber at Colombo’s R. Premadasa Stadium, before reaching 164/6 with 63 deliveries to spare. Sri Lanka had restricted Australia to 50/4 but wicketkeeper-batter Alex Carey starred with an unbeaten 45.

Carey added 51 runs for the fifth wicket with Marnus Labuschagne and then finished the game off by adding a further 43 runs for the unbroken seventh wicket with Cameron Green, who was unbeaten on 25. Sri Lanka’s spinners kept striking at regular intervals on a spin-friendly wicket but knew they were playing catchup in defending a low total.

“I thought the series was very hard fought ... They played in conditions better and they deserved to win the series," Australia captain Aaron Finch said. "Most of us got starts but we couldn’t get partnerships going. We saw that from Sri Lanka. We had 40 and 50 partnerships while they managed big ones. That was the difference.”

After winning the toss and choosing to bat first, the hosts were bowled out for 160 in 43.1 overs. It could have been a lot worse for Sri Lanka without the ninth-wicket partnership between Chamika Karunaratne and debutant Pramod Madushan which was worth 58 runs.

The pair came together on 85-8 and Sri Lanka was in danger of being bowled out for its lowest total against Australia (91) and the lowest total at the venue (98). However, Karunaratne and Madushan helped the team to rebuild and gave the capacity crowd something to cheer. Some fans wore yellow jerseys to thank the Australian team who toured the island amid uncertainty owing to the economic crisis and political instability. The visitors did a lap of honor after the game as the crowd chanted, “Australia, Australia, Australia.”