Finch's 153 sets up Australia's 87-run win over Sri Lanka
London, Jun 15: Skipper Aaron Finch stroked his way to a majestic century as defending champions Australia inched closer to the semifinal berth with a crushing 87-run win over Sri Lanka in their World Cup fixture here Saturday.
Finch forged two crucial partnerships 80 with his opening partner David Warner (26) and 173 with Steve Smith (73 off 59) for the third wicket in his 132-ball 153 knock. It was his 14th ODI hundred which was laced with 15 fours and five sixes, two of them gigantic.
Glenn Maxwell then provided the late charge with an unbeaten 25-ball 46 as Australia posted a challenging 334 for 7.
Chasing the total, Sri Lanka were 115 for no loss at one stage but they squandered the superb start to be eventually dismissed for 247 in 45.5 overs.
Skipper Dimuth Karunaratne (97) was the top-scorer for Sri Lanka, while his opening partner Kusal Perera (52) also scored a fifty.
Mitchell Starc took four wickets, while Kane Richardson claimed three and Pat Cummins scalped two.
This is Australia's fourth win in five matches, having beaten Afghanistan, the West Indies and Pakistan while losing to India in the 10-team tournament.
Sri Lanka, who came into the match with one win from four games after their previous two matches were washed out, are however running out of time after suffering their second defeat.
Sri Lanka were off to a flying start to their runchase with Karunaratne and Kusal Perera helping the team post 87 for zero in 10 overs, the highest total in the powerplay in the tournament so far.
The Island nation scored 100 in 12.4 overs before Mitchell Starc produced a breakthrough, cleaning up Perera in the 16th over.
Lahiru Thirimanne (16), who survived a couple of run-out chances, brought up the team 150 with a square drive but he was caught behind in the next ball by Jason Behrendorff as Sri Lanka slipped to 153 for 2.
Runs dried up after that as Australia tightened the screws. With pressure mounting, Karunaratne ended up giving a straight catch to Maxwell at gully, just three runs short of his hundred.
Two quick wickets next saw Sri Lanka further slump to 209 for five and they never recovered after that.
Earlier, Finch played some exquisite shots to keep the runs flowing even as his opening partner Warner found the going tough.
Nuwan Pradeep was first in the firing line as he was hit for two fours by Finch.
The Australia skipper then blasted Lasith Malinga for a couple of fours in the seventh over before welcoming Thisara Perera with successive boundaries as Australia scored 53 in the first powerplay.
In the 17th over, Dhananjaya de Silva cleaned up Warner when he tried to make room for himself to play a cut shot.
Finch and Usman Khawaja (10) took Australia to hundred in 23rd over but the left-handed batsman perished soon after his sweep shot was caught by Isuru Udana at deep midwicket.
Smith then joined hands with Finch, who exploded in the 29th over, smashing de Silva out of the park twice besides a boundary to amass 20 runs off the over.
Smith too dealt in boundaries as the duo brought up the 200 in 35.3 overs.
The former skipper completed his fifty in 46 balls, while Finch smashed Perera over deep square for his fifth six of the innings.
Finch and Smith carted Perera for 18 runs in the 41st over with each smashing a couple of fours. Smith then deposited Malinga over deep mid-wicket in the next over.
Udana finally broke the partnership when he had Finch caught at cover by Karunaratne off a slower delivery as Australia slipped to 273 for 3 in 42.4 overs.
Malinga then dismissed Smith with a cracking yorker in the next over, while Udana showed great athleticism to run out Alex Carey and Pat Cummins to stem the run flow.
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Congress promises Rs 2,500 to women per month if voted to power in Delhi
New Delhi, Jan 6: Ahead of the Delhi assembly polls, the Congress on Monday announced 'Pyaari Didi Yojana', promising a monthly financial assistance of Rs 2,500 to women if voted to power in the national capital.
The scheme would be rolled out on the lines of the model adopted by the Congress government in Karnataka.
AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal in December last year announced the launch of the 'Mukhya Mantri Mahila Samman Yojna' to give a monthly assistance of Rs 1,000 to women in Delhi, and promised the amount would be raised to Rs 2,100 after the elections.
During a public rally on Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured the people of Delhi that no welfare scheme will be discontinued if the BJP forms the government and made a strong appeal to them to get rid of the Kejriwal-led party.
Announcing the scheme, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said it aims to financially empower women, promising that it would be implemented at the first Cabinet meeting of the new government.
"Today, I have come here to launch the Pyaari Didi Yojana. We are confident that a Congress government will be formed in Delhi, and on the first day of the new Cabinet, we will implement the scheme to provide Rs 2,500 to every woman in the capital," Shivakumar said.
"Whatever and wherever Congress has promised in the nation or state level, we have delivered and we are going to deliver," he said.
Within three months after coming to power, all the guarantees were implemented in Karnataka.
Women in the entire state travel free in buses, 10 kg of rice is being given to every household, about Rs 3,000 given to the unemployed youth, 200 unit of electricity, and Rs 2,000 is being to every women. Additionally, 1.22 crore women are getting Rs 2,000 every month, he said.
After implementing the guarantees of Congress in Karnataka, every family there is saving Rs 4,000 to 5,000, which has brought a big change in the lives of crores of people and on the basis of the same success, Congress party will work to bring a change in the lives of people in Delhi too, he said.
While addressing media, Delhi Congress chief Devender Yadav said that their tag line would be "Hogi har jarurat puri, Congress hai jaruri" (every need will be fulfilled, Congress is needed).
Yadav claimed that there is an an impostor in Delhi who is continuously working to show people dreams.
It is been 11 years and the condition of Delhi is deteriorating, he said.
"I am happy that we have announced the scheme through Shivakumar. In coming days, we will come with many such schemes which are very important for Delhi," the Congress leader said.
After the formation of the Congress government in Delhi, in the first Cabinet, a decision will be taken to give Rs 2,500 per month to each woman under women empowerment and social welfare for the half of the population of Delhi and this amount will be deposited in their accounts every month, Yadav said.
"We assure the people of Delhi that when Congress party comes to power here, we will implement the Congress schemes with the same faith and determination as we had implemented in Karnataka, Telangana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and earlier in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan," he claimed.
Yadav later concluded his address to media by saying that "Karnataka ne ki hai umeedein puri, Delhi ne kaha hai Congress hai jaruri" (Karnataka has fulfilled all the expectations, Delhi said that Congress is needed).
Elections to the 70-member Delhi Assembly are due in February.
Yadav, the party's Delhi in-charge Qazi Nizamuddin, and other senior leaders were present during the announcement.
