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Colombo: Muthiah Muralitharan grabbed 3-26 as Sri Lanka exposed Australian batting weaknesses against spin to boost its chances of qualifying for the final of the Champions Trophy tournament on Friday.Muralitharan completed the demolition job after off spinners Kumar Dharmasena (2-30) and Aravinda de Silva (1-16) had made early inroads, as Australia was dismissed for 162 in the day-night semi-final. Tail-ender Shane Warne top-scored with 36 in a feeble Australian batting performance, followed by Adam Gilchrist (31) and Damien Martyn (28). The winners of the match will meet India in the day-night final on Sunday. Australia, under pressure for the first time in the tournament, choked against a tidy spin bowling on a slow pitch where the ball hardly came on to the bat and posed problems for its stroke-makers.

Sri Lanka was well-served by its spinners, giving just nine overs to fast bowlers Chaminda Vaas and Pulasthi Gunaratne as Australia failed to last their entire 50 overs after electing to bat. Worse, Australia's running between wickets also left a lot to be desired against an agile Sri Lankan fielding as Martyn and Darren Lehmann (0) were run out. Gilchrist flourished for a brief spell against pacemen Vaas and Gunaratne, often hitting over the top to help his team race to 49 in less than seven overs. The panic set in when Sri Lankan skipper Sanath Jayasuriya pressed his spinners into the attack after five overs. Aravinda struck with his fifth delivery when he bowled Matthew Hayden (13), who stepped out to swing the bowler over mid-wicket but missed the line and was bowled. Australia's woes had begun and they soon crashed from 49-0 to 57-4 after six more overs of spin from Dharmasena and Aravinda, backed by smart fielding. Gilchrist mistimed a drive off Dharmasena and was caught by Marvan Atapattu at mid- off after hitting six fours in his 24-ball knock.

Skipper Ricky Ponting was clueless against spin, scoring three off 22 balls before being adjudged leg before off Vaas by TV umpire Rudi Koertzen of South Africa. Direct-hits from fielders Jayasuriya and Russel Arnold then accounted for Lehmann and Martyn, both declared out by the TV umpire. Australia was in a spot even before ace off spinner Muralitharan had come in to bowl as it lost four wickets for eight runs in a space of seven overs. Martyn put on 39 for the fifth wicket with Bevan, but that was not enough to pull his time out of trouble. Dharmasena had Bevan caught by Arnold at square-leg, while Muralitharan dismissed Shane Watson (7) for his first wicket to reduce Australia to Warne and Brett Lee (18) put on 46 runs for the eighth wicket before Muralitharan struck again. Muralitharan had Warne stumped by Kumar Sangakkara and then bowled Glenn McGrath off successive deliveries to see to it that Australia did not cross the 175-mark.

Extras:
Aussies elect to bat against Sri Lanka in 2nd semis
It'll be fiery semi-final against Lanka, says Ponting
Sri Lanka confident of turning tables on Australia

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