ausie lose the final match

Adam Gilchrist's 83 on his final one-day international performance at the Melbourne Cricket Ground was not enough for Australia as they lost by 13 runs to Sri Lanka.

With Australia and India already qualified for the finals of the Commonwealth Bank Series and the match a dead rubber, the attention turned to Gilchrist who did not disappoint as he smashed his runs off 50 balls.But a middle-order collapse meant Ricky Ponting's men could only reach 208 in reply to Sri Lanka's 221, which was led by half centuries from Mahela Jayawardene and Tillakaratne Dilshan. With Gilchrist at his frenetic best it seemed Australia were certain to head into Sunday's first final on the back of a win.The wicketkeeper was utterly dominant and reached 50 off just 35 balls.He hammered 11 fours and two sixes as he dominated an opening partnership of 107 with James Hopes.Indeed, when Hopes was bowled by Muttiah Muralitharan, he had contributed just 28.And that was the beginning of the end for Australia, who lost five wickets for just eight runs.It took an excellent catch to remove Gilchrist, with Lasith Malinga holding the ball on the slide to give Nuwan Kulasekara his first wicket.