Video: Ugly finish just 'heat of the moment'



The Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews and his Australia counterpart George Bailey have played down the ugly scenes at the end of the second Twenty20 as "heat-of-the-moment stuff" and declared there was no lingering ill-feeling after the match. Sri Lanka's near two-month tour of Australia ended with a last-ball victory in the Melbourne match but the battle did not appear to end there as players heatedly exchanged words on the field after the game.

The problems appeared to begin when a large group of Sri Lanka players gathered for a conference before the final ball of the match, when Glenn Maxwell needed four off Thisara Perera to steal an Australian victory. The debate amongst the Sri Lankans dragged on and Maxwell, left standing at the crease and waiting, told the Sri Lankans to get on with it, to which Mahela Jayawardene responded in kind.


After Maxwell failed to make contact with the last ball, Perera taunted the batsman and Maxwell was clearly making his opinion known while shaking hands with the Sri Lankans. The ill-feeling continued when Matthew Wade engaged in some verbals with Jayawardene and Perera while the handshakes took place, and Bailey had to encourage his men to put it all behind them.

"It was just the heat of the moment," Mathews said after the match. "Things happen. You exchange a few words. They play it hard. We play it hard. So that's it. After the game you're friends."

Bailey said he was unsure of the source of the trouble because he was not on the field at the time, but he agreed with Mathews that it was part and parcel of such a tight finish.

"Passion mate. People care about the game and care about the way they play," Bailey said. "I know we get along very well with this side. Even just the chats there coming off, I think it's all just heat-of-the-moment stuff. But I think what you're seeing is individuals and teams that are pretty keen to win."

After the match, Maxwell tweeted: "Absolutely shattered... I went into the Sri Lankan rooms after and they apologised for going over the top. All good." In a second tweet, he said: "Just to clarify... I apologized to Mahela and SL players as well. I have a good friendship with Mahela, and it's gonna stay that way!".(espncricinfo)

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