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Year XXVII, Finals II and III, XI days after

Submitted by rickeyre on February 26, 2006 - 2:43am

For one reason or another, this is the first chance I have had to write up my thoughts on the VB Series finals. I'll turn this into a memory test, and not refer to any source material:

Australia won. Sri Lanka had the series in their grasp until Jayawardene grasped a half-volley off Ponting in Game Two.

The Aussies scored 130 in the last 10 overs of that game. (I have been trying to find any instances of a team scoring more than 260 in a Twenty20 game. Complied records are fabulous for individuals, less so for teams.)
Andrew Symonds scored, what, 160-something? It was the second highest score by a (male) Australian in an ODI since Mark Waugh scored 173 on a seriously minituarised MCG a few years back.

After flogging Sri Lanka in game two, the Aussies did it again in game three. I can't remember scores from either game. From memory I thiink the Aussies batted second in game three (which was at the Gabba in front of a less-than-packed house) and Adam Gilchrist scored the fastest ODI ton by an Australian in terms of balls faced (if, of course, you disregard John Davison and Karen Rolton).

I have no idea who man of the series was. Brett Dorey? Johan van der Wath? Phil Jaques perhaps? Don't remember, sorry.

Of course, we've all moved on since then. The Australian team all went to KFBP's taxpayer-funded farewell bash at the SOO, then choofed off to South Africa where the sledging-by-media match between Ricky Ponting and Graeme Smith resumed. And then this morning, South Africa beat Australia by two runs in a twenty20 bash at The Wanderers.

Sri Lanka, meanwhile has gone on to lose an ODI to Bangladesh.