The great Australian resilience was on display in their clinical annihilation of Sri Lanka in the super eight match of the T20 World Cup here on Sunday.

The Aussies found a man in the hour of crisis in the form of Cameroon White. The burly right hander pulverized the Lankans into submission with an awesome display of power hitting and his match-winning unbeaten 101 runs sixth wicket stand with Micheal Hussey set the stage for fast bowlers who wreaked havoc. The result was crushing 97-run win for Australia which ensured them a place in the semifinal.

Sri Lankans must be wondering what hit them after they had reduced Australia to 67 for five in 11 overs. Things were going smoothly for the Lankans as danger man Watson departed in the first over. Haddin skied a catch to long on and the standout bowler Randiv snared two wickets in one over as Australia slipped to 30 for four at the end of the powerplay. It soon became 67 for five when Clarke was bowled trying to cut Randiv.

Sri Lanka looked to close out things but what transpired in the latter part of the innings was purely magical. Cameroon White played an invaluable knock of 85 off 49 balls to deflate the Lankan attack. The key to his innings was the straight hitting. The big fella hit six sixes and all of them straight to either long on or long off and it was a revelation. With Mike Hussey playing the sheet anchor’s role, White tore into the attack and put it to sword. White smote Mendis for a six and a four in a momentum seizing 15th over. White flicked Malinga down the leg-side for a boundary to complete the fifty and then changed gears. Welegedra was struck for two consecutive sixes as 16 runs came off the 16th over. Hussey joined the party late mauling Malinga as 16 runs came off the 17 over. It was a gamble to bring in Mendis at death and the marauding White sent him to cleaners. The result was two straight sixes and 15 runs in the penultimate over.Malinga couldn’t find his rhythm and it was another huge over as Australia finished in style.

The law of averages finally caught up Jayawardene as the batsman after flicking a six top-edged a ball from Nannes which was shade quicker and was coolly caught by Smith at fine leg. Sangakkara tried to pull a short ball from Tait and got a leading edge which was snapped up by Haddin. Jayasuriya was uncomfortable during his brief stay and Nannes pinned him on to the backfoot with short stuff. The bowler finally brought one in and trapped Jayasuriya plumb in front. Dilshan sparkled for a while sending Watson to the cleaners. But Micheal Johnson’s first over killed the contest. Cameroon White plucked a beauty at backward point as Dilshan played the square cut a widish ball and in the same over Angelo Mathews holed out to deep cover. Sri Lanka slumped to 49 for five and there were no dramatic comebacks this time around as Australia wrapped up things quite comfortably.