Spirited Australia win Hobart Test by 137 runs

By Nadene Smith

HOBART, Australia (TheSportsNEXT) December 18, 2012: A brilliant bowling performance by fast bowlers Peter Siddle and Mitchell Starc led Australia to 137 runs victory in the first of the three Test matches against Sri Lanka at Bellerive Oval in Hobart on Tuesday.

Sri Lankan batsmen showed great fight on the final day as they almost batted out the day but some classy bowling right at the end by Mitchell Starc, who found the ball to move both ways, dismantled the resolve showed by the visitors and in the end they were bowled out for 255 runs in their second innings.

Kumar Sangakkara and Thilan Samaraweera stood rock-solid during their innings before both of them falling to Peter Siddle who didn’t find much respite from the pitch in the opening session but got the ball to swing both ways in the afternoon session and this was the time when he looked the most impressive.

Sri Lankan skipper Mahela Jayawardene, who is playing his final series as captain, failed to score runs in both the innings but there was no dearth of runs from his opposite number Michael Clarke who was retired hurt but not before scoring 57 brilliant runs from just 46 balls.

The game was poised for a draw until tea session as Sri Lanka were able to still have six wickets in hand but Mitchell Starc went berserk in the final session and helped his side win the Test match with some gutsy show of swing and fast bowling.

Peter Siddle was declared Man of the Match for taking nine wickets in the match.

The next two Tests of the three-match series will be played in Melbourne on Boxing Day and in Sydney on January 3.

Brief Scores:

Australia 450 for 5 declared and 278 all out

Sri Lanka 336 all out and 255 all out