BEN Hilfenhaus completed a promising comeback from a knee injury with a five-wicket haul to confirm Australia A’s 107-run victory over Sri Lanka A in Brisbane. Hilfenhaus’ maiden first-class half-century had helped set up an adequate lead for Australia before he and Sri Lanka capitulated to the pace of Hilfenhaus and Peter George.
(Scores: Australia A 208 (O’Keefe 61, Senanayake 8-70) and 318 (Bailey 87, Hilfenhaus 50, Prasad 3-59) beat Sri Lanka A 103 (Thirimanne 20, O’Keefe 7-35) and 316 (Silva 58, Chandimal 54, Hilfenhaus 5-63, George 5-84) by 107 runs.
Set 424 for victory, Sri Lanka had been pegged back by George who had left them in trouble at 224 for 5 at the end of the third day.
On the fourth morning, Australia were made to wait by the overnight pair of Chamara Silva (58) and Kosala Kulasekara (33), who extended their partnership to 90 before Hilfenhaus struck.
Kulasekara was caught by captain George Bailey, his first of three in the innings, and Hilfenhaus cleaned up the rest, including Silva, facing hardly any resistance.
The last five wickets fell for 28, squandering an encouraging start by the Sri Lankan batsmen, who had promised to make a fight of their chase of an imposing target.
“It’s a very, very good result; it was a pretty different wicket here and I haven’t really played on a wicket like that at AB Field before,” Bailey said after the game. “It was a little bit tacky and soft on days one and two and it was a very different game, but it is good play in those sometimes.
“I thought it was a pretty good performance from us; I think nearly everyone contributed at some stage. I think all our bowlers bowled well during the match; when they got away from us yesterday I thought Pete George and Andrew McDonald bowled a really good spell for us.
“It’s funny how it can roll one way for a bowler and once they start getting a few wickets they can end up with a handful. Hilf bowled really well for us today but once again I thought Peter George bowled really well and Mitchell Starc bowled pretty well as well.”
While the fast men starred in the second innings, it was the left-arm spin of Steve O’Keefe that started Australia’s strong performance. O’Keefe grabbed 7 for 35 in the first innings to complete his first five-wicket haul in first-class cricket, after he top-scored on the opening day with 61. (Eurosport)