ERST LESEN! » on only 46 percent of his games, and this year

Australia 228 for 7 (Smith 58, Finch 56, Bailey 39, Dilruwan Perera 3-48) beat Sri Lanka 227 for 8 (Chandimal 80*, Kusal Mendis 67, Faulkner 4-38, Starc 3-32) by three wickets Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsSri Lanka had no fewer than six slow-bowling options - half of them specialists. And by the time Australia batted, the dry Premadasa pitch had begun to bubble and spit. In the Tests, these ingredients had led to humbling defeats for the visitors while the local spinners reaped sackfuls of wickets. But perhaps for the first time on tour, Australia satisfactorily negotiated the spin challenge. The win wasnt always pretty, but it was comfortable enough. With Aaron Finch and Steven Smith making half centuries, Australia chased down 228 with three wickets and more than three overs to spare.It had been Australias quicks discipline that had earlier tethered Sri Lanka to a relatively modest total, even given the difficult conditions. Mitchell Starc took three important wickets as he became the quickest bowler in history to 100 ODI wickets, and James Faulkner inflicted even more damage, delivering a double-wicket maiden upon which Sri Lankas innings pivoted, and claiming four wickets for 38 all told.Faulkner had cajoled Kusal Mendis into a miscued pull early in the 30th over, then had Angelo Mathews athletically caught at point four balls later. When Starc took another wicket soon after, Sri Lanka had slipped from 124 for 2 to 132 for 5, and though Dinesh Chandimal was at the crease through the rest of the innings, Sri Lanka could not muster the 250 which might have represented a winning score.Starc prospered on a customary full length, and each of his wickets were the result of drawing batsmen into drives. He knocked down Kusal Pereras off stump in the first over, got Dhananjaya de Silva miscuing a slower ball to claim his 100th wicket, then had Milinda Siriwardana out with a similar delivery. Faulkner bowled his cutters more liberally and generally pitched the ball on a length. Starc did not concede a boundary through his ten overs. Faulkner was exemplary at the death, giving away only 17 in his last three overs, and claiming two scalps in them.Smiths 58 provided the chase its middle-overs substance, but it had been Finch who made quick ground in the early overs, so as to give the middle order a wide margin for error. He clubbed his second ball for six, and did not slow his rate of scoring while the fielding restrictions were in effect even though balls began to misbehave early on. By the end of the 10th over, he had hit seven fours and two sixes in a score of 48 from 36 balls.Finch departed in somewhat controversial circumstances - when Amila Aponso, the debutant left-arm spinner, had one leap away from the bat off a full length. The ball ended up in the hands of Angelo Mathews at slip, but such was the turn on offer, that it is possible it got there with no interference from Finchs bat.Whatever the case, Smith took the chase by the collar from then onwards, but his was a steadier innings. Aponso beat his bat virtually every over, but Smith kept out the straighter deliveries and scored off the shorter ones. He was dropped on 15 when, at slip, Mathews failed to hold a catch that had deflected off the wicketkeepers pad. The remainder of his outside edges landed safely away from fielders. It was not the most fluent innings Smith has played, but it was the kind of surface on which survival was laudable enough.Aponso was the most accurate of Sri Lankas bowlers, and unlucky to finish with only one wicket from his 10 overs. His colleagues left their surge too late. Dilruwan Perera had Smith caught at short leg, but the score was already 190. He took two more wickets towards the finish, and Lakshan Sandakan one more to add to the earlier wicket of Matthew Wade. Australia lost four for 32 through that late period, but that was not a dramatic enough slump to threaten the result.Sri Lankas top-scorer Dinesh Chandimal had earlier brought a Test-match zen to the first ODI, as he hit an unbeaten 80 from 113 deliveries. He scored in singles and twos exclusively to begin with, and was content to go without a boundary until his 46th delivery. The majority of his runs came square of the wicket; the cut, sweep, dab and legside flick the more favoured among his strokes. The Australia seamers increasingly rolled their fingers over the ball as the innings progressed, but Chandimal was largely wise to their changes of pace - though his shots did also find infielders more often than he would have liked. He hit only three boundaries in his innings.Mendis was the recipient of much good during his 67 from 95 balls. He was dropped on 14, survived a close lbw shout on 25, was almost run out twice, and mishit plenty of his shots. However, unlike Chandimal, Mendis didnt completely omit the more exuberant strokes. His most memorable shots was a regal lofted straight drive off Moises Henriques, and a lofted legside flick off Faulkner.Beyond these two half-centuries, three others made bit-part contributions to the score. Tillakaratne Dilshan made 22 before falling to the Dilscoop. Siriwardana hit 19 off 26 in a 41-run stand with Chandimal, and Thisara Perera made 21 off 14 in the death overs. Australias seamers were difficult to get away at the finish, conceding only 41 in the final six overs, but much of the damage had been done earlier on.Andreas Athanasiou Jersey . -- Canadian Andrew Wiggins got the ball on the wing, made a nifty spin move and then let go with a soft floater from about 10 feet that swished through the net in Allen Fieldhouse. Nicklas Lidstrom Red Wings Jersey . -- Canadian Andrew Wiggins got the ball on the wing, made a nifty spin move and then let go with a soft floater from about 10 feet that swished through the net in Allen Fieldhouse. http://www.redwingshockeyauthentic.com/michael-rasmussen-jersey/ . Parker had 26 points and eight assists and San Antonio beat Toronto 112-99 Monday night. "We won that game because of Tony Parkers aggressiveness," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "His juice; his aggression all night long. Brett Hull Jersey . Tests earlier this week revealed a Grade 2 left hamstring strain for Sabathia, who was hurt in last Fridays start against San Francisco. Its an injury that will require about eight weeks to heal. He finished a disappointing campaign just 14-13 with a career-worst 4. Justin Abdelkader Jersey . But by the time the game started, the Toronto Raptors forward felt even worse. And, for three quarters, it showed as Gay shot a woeful three-for-13 from the field.This story is part of ESPN The Magazines Oct. 31 NBA Preview Issue. Subscribe today!Chicago White SoxOverall: 96 Title track: T35 Ownership: 103 Coaching: 122 Players: 90 Fan relations: 116 Affordability: 27 Stadium experience:?91 Bang for the buck: 78 Change from last year: -11This spring, a baseball team in Chicago steamrolled through April and early May, winning at a .697 clip through game No. 33 on the backs of a gleaming sub-3.00 team ERA and a .300-plus OBP. And that team was not the Cubs! OK, it was. But it was also the White Sox, who played like world-beaters for the first five weeks of the season, only to let the world dole out beatings at their expense for the final 21. The Sox finished the year under .500 for the fourth straight time, then said goodbye to Robin Ventura, their all-time best third baseman-turned-beleaguered manager. It was ... not a winning formula in the AL Central (11 games out of the wild card) or the Ultimate Standings. The Sox rank No. 96 overall, the teams lowest ranking since 2004.Whats goodThe expiration date on the White Soxs 2005 World Series-engendered goodwill still looms far off, at least according to Chicagos T35 showing in title track. (When your team lands in the postseason nine times since 1901, a long shelf life makes a sad kind of sense.) Besides championship runs, the Sox logged just one top-50 grade, in affordability. An average White Sox ticket ran fans $29.55, compared to their crosstown rivals $51.33. If you cant beat the Cubs on the fieeld, beat them off of it!Whats badVentura spent a decade on the South Side, where he collected five Gold Gloves and an All-Star berth from 1989-1998.dddddddddddd But his success as a player in pinstripes did not translate to success as a skipper in pinstripes. In five seasons at the helm, Ventura won only 46 percent of his games, and this year -- with the organization expected to finally contend for the playoffs after a seven-year absence -- he fell short again, as his team finished 16? games behind the AL Central-leading Indians. Ventura chose to not return to the White Sox, and as a parting gift, the fans gave him a No. 122 ranking in coaching, dead last among all four sports.Whats newWho do the White Sox want to be? Which direction do they want to pursue? Do they go win-now mode and buffer their stable of stars with some high-priced free agents? Or do they burn the house down, offload Chris Sale and Jose Quintana and turn their focus to the farm? Owner Jerry Reinsdorf, at the helm since 1981, doesnt seem to know, and the fans confidence in him has plummeted in turn. Chicago dropped 38 spots in ownership since last year, and Reinsdorfs wishy-washy handling of Venturas departure this fall -- the Sox said theyd bring the manager back next season if he wanted to return -- wont do much to endear him to a restless fan base.Next: New York Yankees | Full rankings ' ' '