World Cup 2019: Australia rises to top after defeating Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka has been having a tough World Cup with rain playing havoc in their matches. Two of their matches have been washed out and they split points with Bangladesh and Pakistan. Their only victory in the tournament has come against Afghanistan. This is the match where Sri Lanka would look to make its comeback.
It might be easier said than done though, as Australia has displayed phenomenal form in the tournament so far. They have just lost one of their four matches and rest comfortably at the number three spot in the points table.
That being said, Marcus Stoinis’ injury could potentially upset the balance of the Australian side. Stoinis suffered a side strain during the match with India. Mitchell Marsh is filling in for the all rounder. The pitch report suggested it to be a batting pitch which should instrumental in putting up a 300+ score for the game.
Sri Lanka won the toss and Karunaratne made the decision to bowl first.
“We’ll bowl first. It has been rainy, so the moisture will help seamers initially so we need to take advantage. Pradeep is fit to play, he’s been playing really well and has recovered. Siriwardene will play instead of Lakmal. We have trained harder since it has been frustrating with all our games getting rained out. Training hard. That’s all we can do.”
David Warner and Aaron Finch started the innings for Australia. The partnership worked well, putting up a 50 in 10 overs. Finch became the highest run getter in ODIs this year surpassing Usman Khawaja’s 857 runs.
Dhanajay de Silva takes a crucial wicket for Sri Lanka when he smashes the stumps off David Warner, sending the opener back with 26 runs and breaking up a successful partnership. The Australian side wasn’t rattled by the early departure and Finch and Khawaja brought the score up to 100 in 22.4 overs. Khawaja didn’t look comfortable and struggled against De Silva to play big shots. This cost him his wicket as he tried playing a sweep but didn’t get it in the middle, getting picked up by the deep square-leg fielder.
Steve Smith came in to replace Khawaja and looked quite comfortable, scoring quick boundaries for his team.
Finch looked good scoring quick, consistent boundaries and sixes off De Silva. He got a lucky break almost getting stumped but escaping by a hair’s width. It was his day and he soon got his 14th ODI century off 97 balls with a smashing six, setting an example for his team. Steve Smith seemed to take the lesson to heart, following his captain and scoring his 8th 50 in 10 World Cup innings.
Finch and Smith found a rhythm, going on the offensive. Smith put back to back boundaries to complimenting Finch’s sixes and fours. The partnership provided an accelerated push to the Australian chances. Skipper Aaron Finch got to 150 off 128 balls with a beautiful boundary towards deep mid-wicket. He had been an anchor for his team throughout this innings but fell for 153 leaving the grounds to a standing ovation.
Malinga strikes next with an excellent yorker to end a good innings by Steve Smith. Glenn Maxwell comes in with a vengeance, hitting four boundaries and a six in a single over. Shaun Marsh, however, could not get things started and gave his wicket away for just 3 runs.
Udana struck a bit late in the game getting Carey and Cummings with good deliveries to knock the stumps down.
Maxwell ended the Australian innings with a four and Sri Lanka was given a respectable total of 334-7.
Dimuth Karunaratne and Kusal Perera opened the Sri Lankan innings with a crackling start, getting two boundaries and 12 runs from the first over. Kusal Perera continued to hit boundaries and got the total to 24 in 2 overs. Karunaratne also put back to back boundaries away. Sri Lanka put up 50 runs with a boundary in just 7 overs. This was the idyllic start Sri Lanka needed to win.
The opening partnership continued to chip away at the asking total, racing to 79/0 in 9 overs. This was also their highest Powerplay score in this World Cup.
Australia wasted their last review trying to get Perera. It was a desperate attempt that didn’t amount to anything as replay showed there was a big gap between the bat and ball.
Karunaratne refused to let Finch be the only fighting captain putting up his 1st half-century against Australia in ODIs. This was his career’s 4th half-century and the 3rd in the last 4 innings.
Perera followed suit and brought up his 13th ODI fifty. The partnership seemed to be getting the team on the brink of victory when Sri Lanka suffered a setback in the form Perera.
Starc got the first wicket of the innings. He continued to ensure the runs stay in check, delivering an economical over. Karunaratne tried to keep the momentum going for his team but Thirimanne had trouble with his arm. He was cleared to play but continued to struggle and gave an easy wicket to Behrendorff. He departed at 16.
Sri Lanka looked to be in serious trouble as skipper Karunaratne delivered a straight catch to Glenn Maxwell at backward point. He fell 3 runs short of his maiden ODI 100 at 97. Australia seemed to be getting back in the game.
Mathews is the next wicket to fall and he looked furious as he walked back to the pavilion. Sri Lanka needed 130 from 85 balls. It was not an unmanageable target but the quick fall of wickets seemed to be a major concern for Lanka. The chasm only seemed to get deeper as Starc steals a quick wicket in the form of Milinda Siriwardana.
The last line of defense crumbled with Thisara Perera falling at 7 to Starc. Sri Lanka needed 118 off 78 but with just 4 wickets in hand it looked like an unconquerable task.
Starc was on a roll and wreaked havoc in the ranks of Lanka line up adding Kusal Mendis to his list. He is in a form reminiscent of his 2015 World Cup form where he claimed 22 wickets, earning the Man of the Tournament.
Richardson joined the wicket taking fray delivering a tremendous catch to Finch and sending Udana packing at 8 off 8 balls. Lasith Malinga delivered a soft wicket to add to Richardson’s score. Pat Cummings stamped the victory with the last wicket of the innings. Australia won the match by 87 runs.
Aaron Finch got a well-deserved Player of the Match for his outstanding performance.
“It was nice to get a couple of drives away at the start. If my balance is on and I can get a few drives, that’s the key to my batting. A nice wicket. I’ve been working on keeping my balance from the ball one – not losing my balance. We lost a few wickets on the verge of taking the game on too much, but a couple of partnerships took us deep. Smith is really good at finding the gap and rotating the strike – looked up at the scorecard and saw he was on 25 – thought he was on 5. He just hits the ball in the gap, and that’s a great skill, especially in the beginning of the innings. It’s amazing when Maxi has a free rein like that, he can just go all out. Credit to SL, they executed really well under pressure, otherwise, I thought we were definitely getting to 350,” said Aaron Finch.
“I thought we were a touch short with the new ball. You want to bowl top of off, but when we were getting hit we had to change our plan. It was nice to see Maxwell bowl well. We have been improving each game. The way we dragged it in the middle overs was impressive. Starc is going the business again in an ICC tournament. We have played some really good cricket in patches and there are some areas to improve It’s a real positive,” he added.
Australia now sits at the top of the table with 8 points.
