Sri Lanka playing well, with updates as Australia won in farcical scenes

We are at the end of the second powerplay in the Sri Lankan innings. Sangakkara and Jayasuriya absolutely blitzed that powerplay, taking 51 off the second five over power play and taking the score to 1/102 off 16 overs. Sangakkara is 41 off 41 and Jayasuriya 47 off 47. Tharanga was out in the first over to Bracken, but since then the Sri Lankans have been making a mess of the Australian bowling. Sri Lanka are taking a few chances, but they have come off so far. This could be a tight match.

Update It is raining in the 18th over. A result can be declared on Duckworth/Lewis at 20 overs. PLease either rain the game out now and continue tomorrow or let us finish the game. An arbitrary Duckworth/Lewis result is the one thing we do not want.

Well Okay, Australia's inability to defend large totals returning in the World Cup final would upset me even more.

Further Update: Jayawardene seems to be setting in settling in, and has 14 off 11. Clarke is bowling, and the Sri Lankans are attempting to hit him. Ponting is hoping that one of the Sri Lankans goes for it and he gets out.

And well, well, well. It worked. Jayasuriya went for a bit hit, came down the pitch and got bowled. Jayasuriya out for 63. 3/145 off 23 overs. Possibly the last innings in international cricket for a very fine player.

Even further update: The players have gone off due to rain. The score is 3/149. If the game went on, Sri Lanka would require 133 runs off 79 balls. If there is no further play, Australia wins by 26 runs on Duckworth Lewis. If there is more play, who knows? Why oh why can they not just finish this tomorrow and have a proper game.

Another update: The players are back out. I don't have the foggiest whether the target has been reduced, or what? Perhaps they haven't taken any overs off. I hope not.

More: After ten minutes of nobody having the foggiest idea what was going on, it has been confirmed that two overs have been lost and the target is now 269 off 36 overs. Jaywardene was out lbw to Watson in a questionable (ie wrong) decision shortly after the players came back on. Right now it is 158/4 off 26.1 overs. Australia are going to win this easily enough. I could have done without some of the farce, however.

Nearly over now: These Sri Lankans have guts, unlike most of the other teams in the tournament. Dilshan and Silva kept fighting, putting on 30 odd for the fifth wicket. However, with the level of risk they were taking and with their requiring more than two runs a ball, it wasn't going to go on forever, and Dilshan was run out and Silva was bolwed attempting to hit Clarke out of the ground. Clarke is getting it to bounce low, and is enjoying having a bowl. He didn't get long in the middle, and is making up for it with the ball. Now 193/6. 76 needed from 27 balls. Australia are close to home.

It is 11.03pm here in London. My day feels like it has been going on for years.

Huh? After Malinga hit a big six to take the score to 7/206 off 33 overs, the umpires stopped play due to bad light. The Austrialians assumed the game was over and that they had won on Duckworth/Lewis, and the people to present the trouphy started to come onto the ground. However, the umpires sent them back. For a couple of minutes htey seemed to be saying that the game had to be finished tomorrow, and then (either at the request of the batsmen or after some unfathomable ruling) it was decided to finish the last three overs after all. Australia brought on Symonds to bowl innocuously, and the overs were bowled. The score advanced to 215/8. Australia won by 52 runs on Duckworth/Lewis. Australia win eleven straight to win their third straight World Cup, their second straight undefeated World Cup, their 23rd consecutive World Cup game, and their 29th World Cup match without defeat.

It's a shame it ended in such farce. Australia deserved better. Sri Lanka deserved better. None of this nonsense was necessary. Once three hours of play was lost, the game should have been played as a 50 over a side match over two days. That would have been non-controversial and proper. The ICC are idiots. Heads need to roll over this, but they won't.

I will write a final roundup of the World Cup over the next couple of days. Also, this blog is going to remain alive going forward. More on that soon.