Australia v Sri Lanka, 3rd ODI, Brisbane

Sri Lanka wobble but on target in tiny chase

14 overs Sri Lanka 4 for 48 (K Perera 8*, Tharanga 5*, Johnson 3-11) need another 27 runs to beatAustralia 74 (Starc 22*, Kulasekara 5-22, Malinga 3-14)

	Nuwan Kulasekara destroyed Australia with lethal inswing © Getty Images

An astonishing spell of fearsome inswing bowling from Nuwan Kulasekara decimated Australia's top order, and sent the hosts to 74 all out inside 27 overs, but Sri Lanka encountered trouble of their own in what shaped as a straightforward chase, as they stumbled to 4 for 48 at the tea break.

Kulasekara finished with career-best figures of 5 for 22, with Lasith Malinga tearing down the tail with three scalps of his own, but Australia's pacemen were also lethal in their 14 overs so far. If chances off Lahiru Thirimanne and Tillakaratne Dilshan had not been missed in the field, Australia may have won early the momentum to spark a heavier collapse, but they instead went to the break with six more wickets to get, but still with a chance, if wickets continue to tumble as they have so far.

Dilshan's innings of 22 was populated almost exclusively by booming drives, most of which failed to make contact - many by quite a distance. Faced with a small target and difficult conditions, Sri Lanka's batsmen appeared to have opted for a hyper-aggressive approach, reasoning that if just one of them came off, victory would come easy.

However at 4 for 37, that strategy had only delivered them jitters and handed the opposition momentum. Kushal Perera and Upul Tharanga chose then to reserve their belligerence only for the poor deliveries, and two wicket-free overs before the break calmed the visitors' dressing room somewhat and reinstated Sri Lanka as favourites, with only 27 more to win.

Having rested several key players for the first two matches, Australia returned to near-full strength at Brisbane, with Michael Clarke, David Warner and Matthew Wade arriving to bolster the batting, but none of them could make it to double figures. In fact, only the last pair of Mitchell Starc and Xavier Doherty did.

Clarke had chosen to bat first on a pitch he believed to be full of runs - an assessment he shared with Mahela Jayawardene, who also would have batted - but although there was not much live grass on the surface, both men seem to have underestimated the effect of Brisbane's humidity. It was in the air that Kulasekara won the battle, not off the pitch. Few batsmen are equipped to negate the amount of movement he achieved, particularly in the middle of his spell, but the lateness of Kulasekara's inswing made him almost unplayable.

The deliveries that bowled Michael Clarke and Moises Henriques began about a metre outside off stump, and only began to move around halfway down the pitch, when the batsman had already committed himself to a stroke. Both men played for big inswing, but as the ball swerved hard at the stumps like a snake suddenly smelling prey, they still had their inside edges beaten, and their woodwork rattled. George Bailey had made a similar mistake first ball, only he had offered no stroke to a delivery he believed to be passing safely outside off stump, and it struck him flush on the front pad and would have hit middle and off.

Sri Lanka's bowlers only mustered modest swing to begin with, but Angelo Mathews used a little extra bounce to dismiss Warner, who holed out to mid on playing a cross-batted stroke that was ill-judged in any case. Warner had been among the runs during the Test leg of the tour, and the manner of his dismissal in Brisbane may add heat to the debate about Australia's rotation policy, and whether batsmen are being done a disservice by being rested, when they are in form.

Kulasekara worked himself into a honeyed rhythm after that dismissal, and by the 12th over, had embarrassed Australia's first-choice team. His first two scalps were the result of fine catching as well as great bowling, as Jayawardene held on to a tough chance off Phillip Hughes' bat at third slip, before wicketkeeper Kushal Perera dove to his left to snaffle David Hussey's inside edge.

Malinga also found movement in the air when he came into the attack at 6 for 30, and removed Mitchell Johnson with an outswinging yorker in his second over, before taking a wicket each in of his two next overs.

Doherty was circumspect at the crease to begin with, leaving the strokemaking to Starc, who was intent on making the best of a bad situation, and the pair rode their luck for eight overs, before Shaminda Eranga ended the innings with a slower ball.