Tie keeps Australia A in one-day series

Under dark skies and a floodlit Tony Ireland Stadium in Townsville, the second one-day match between Australia A and Sri Lanka A has finished in a tie, keeping the series alive ahead of the final game in Brisbane on Saturday.

Earlier in the day, Australia A skipper George Bailey won the toss but sent the visitors in to bat and they got off to a quick start before the Australian bowlers reeled them in to 257 from their 50 overs.

After inclement weather arrived 8.4 overs into Australia’s chase and the hosts sitting on 1-44, the target was revised under the Duckworth-Lewis Method to 208 from 34 overs.

Australia A initially started well after the rain interval, however lost three quick wickets that saw them slip to 4-107, then 5-136 when Travis Birt departed for 19, bringing Andrew McDonald and Moises Henriques to the crease.

The pair saw the score through to 6-191 after 32.6 overs when Andrew McDonald (36) holed out at deep long-off, leaving Australia with a further 17 to get off the last over.

After a single and a two, Henriques launched a bomb over the long-on boundary, followed by another two a ball later before he was run out off the second last ball for 32 with Australia needing five just to win.

Needing a six to win the game, new batsman Xavier Doherty blasted a drive in the air through cover bouncing only a few times before reaching the boundary to tie the scores on 207.

After the match, Australia A coach Greg Chappell praised the captaincy of George Bailey and the job of the bowlers in getting the home team back into the game after Sri Lanka had got off to a flyer.

“It was an unbelievable match and an amazing finish and credit goes to both teams for putting on a great game of cricket under testing conditions,” Chappell said.

“I thought George Bailey led the side very well when the pressure was put on us by the Sri Lankan top-order, but our bowlers fought back and in the end it was pleasing to restrict them to 260 because we could have easily been chasing a much bigger total.”

On debut, local Luke Feldman finished as the best of the bowlers with 3-43 from his eight overs, while Victorian James Pattinson also snared a couple.

With light rain falling for most of the second innings and dark skies overhead, conditions were testing for both teams late in the game. After they picked up the four key wickets following the rain delay, Sri Lanka looked in the box seat before the Australians fought back into the match.

“Sri Lanka played extremely well; they were attacking with the bat, bowled quite well and fielded brilliantly,” Chappell said.

“After getting off to a solid start, we fell in a bit of a hole when we lost those few quick wickets but I was extremely pleased that we were able to work our way back into the match again.

“We’ll head back to Brisbane now and be looking to level the series in the final match at AB Field on Saturday.”

With Sri Lanka leading the three-match series 1-0 after two games, both teams will return to Brisbane for the final match of the tour to be played at Allan Border Field in Brisbane on Saturday (July 11).

Full scorecard available here

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