Oh - What a Game of Cricket!!

Last night's game was the best cricket game I had watched in a long  while. Sri Lanka holding onto the hemlines of an Over with Angelo Mathew coaching number 10 Lasith Malinga into strategic positions so that they could last the entirety of the ODI against Australia.

And boy...did they do that with aplomb!  Malinga, who by the way looks like a Solomon Islander with his blond highlighted afro, reminded me of a child sitting under a large Christmas tree filled with presents. His was the ultimate display of innocence when he hit a 6 and eventually reached half-century. Until then, his highest score had been 16. Malinga would have been over the moon to set such a record in a win against Australia.

Australia was playing on the back of a record ninth-wicket stand between Mathews and Malinga.

Mathews a middle-order player and Malinga an ace bowler, staged one of the greatest comebacks, setting up a one-wicket win with 34 balls left in their opening one-day international in Melbourne last night.

Sri Lanka ran out of luck after 8 wickets went down at 107 runs in reply to Australia's 239 for eight from 50 overs. But the comeback by Mathew and Mlainga was edge-of-the-seat stuff - their 132-run partnership set a world record for the ninth wicket in one-day internationals, beating the mark that had stood for 27 years.

I cannot wait for the second of the ODI to be played tomorrow in Sydney. Australia needs to step up or be left in disarray for their Ashes challenge against England.