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Dilshan exits international stage in defeat

Cape Town - Sri Lanka veteran batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan's international career ended with a loss on Sunday, as Australia won the third ODI in Dambulla by two wickets, thus taking a two-one series lead.

It was Dilshan's final match for the Sri Lankans, and he scored a final knock of 42 as the hosts recorded 226 all out. The Aussies chased that down with 24 balls to spare, with George Bailey's half ton the key.

This negated the century that Dinesh Chandimal scored for his side, as no-one else really helped him add runs to the board. Dilshan's 42 was by far the next best score, as no-one else reached 20.

The Aussies all shared in the spoils, wicket-wise, though spinner Adam Zampa was best of the lot as he took three for 38. Mitchell Starc bagged two clean bowled wickets, while James Faulkner and John Hastings took two each as well.

The chase was relatively simple thanks to Bailey's 70, even though he fell with 20 runs to go. It would have been a different story without him though, as openers David Warner and Aaron Finch both fell cheaply.

Angelo Mathews took two early wickets as the Aussies slumped to 44 for three, before Bailey and Travis Head rescued the knock. They took the score from 44 to 106 before Head was removed for 36.

Matthew Wade also did well with the bat, adding 42 runs to the tally after some questionable efforts behind the stumps when he was keeping wicket earlier.

The final few runs were left to Faulkner and Hastings to get, but Faulkner fell to Amila Aponso for four, putting the cat amongst the pigeons a bit at the end. Starc also departed, but Hastings and Zampa were able to see them home.

Dilshan retires with 330 ODIs to his name, featuring 22 centuries and 47 half tons in that format alone. He also played 78 T20s, with one tone and 13 fifties to his name.

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