Australia have brought to life their stuttering ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup campaign with an impressive five-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in Lucknow on Monday.
Winless over the first two matches, the five- time World Cup titleholders showed major signs of enhancement as they successfully chased down Sri Lanka’s modest aggregate of 209 with further than 14 overs remaining.
It looked like Sri Lanka were headed for a big score when openers Kusal Perera( 78) and Pathum Nissanka( 61) put on 125 for the opening gate, but some inspired bowling from Adam Zampa(4/25), Mitchell Starc(2/43) and Pat Cummins(2/32) backed up with some good catching in the field meant the Asian side were confined late in their innings.
Pacer Dilshan Madushanka(3/38) hovered to disrupt Australia’s chase as he removed educated brace David Warner and Steve Smith with a superb double- gate demoiselle beforehand in the chase.
But half- centuries to Josh Inglis( 58) and Mitchell Marsh( 52) and some lofty late blows from Glenn Maxwell( 31 *) assured the Aussies picked up their first palm of the event.
The palm sees Australia ameliorate to eighth on the World Cup standings, while Sri Lanka remain winless and with a mountain of work to do to stay in contention for asemi-final situation.
Match 14 Sri Lanka 209(43.3 overs) v Australia215/5(35.2 overs)
A chaotic launch replaced for Australia in Lucknow. While Mitchell Marsh and David Warner took off in a brisk fashion, Dilshan Madushanka struck doubly in the third over to give Sri Lanka stopgap. He’d both David Warner( 11) and Steve Smith trapped lbw.
Still, Mitchell Marsh continued attacking from his end. He hit nine boundaries in the first 12 overs. He brought up his fifty off simply 39 balls, and assured that Australia maundered at a healthy strike- rate.
Sri Lanka struck back in the 15th over, when they had Marsh run out for 52.
A positive Josh Inglis, who began with back- to- back fours, and Marnus Labuschagne held the stronghold for Australia. Their 77- run stage helped stabilize the Australia chase. After Labuschagne’s redundancy
For 40 in the 29th over, Inglis was joined by Maxwell.
The innings picked up pace at the reverse of Maxwell’s combativeness, and Australia closed in on a big palm.
Sri Lanka lost three pivotal lattices after themid-innings mark. Cummins got one to tine back in the 27th over, and crashed into Kusal Perera’s wholes.
In the veritably next over, Kusal Mendis( 9) fell while trying to take on Zampa on the leg- side. David Warner came running in formerly further and held on to a brilliant take.
Former game’s centurion Sadeera Samarawickrama fell lbw to Zampa in the 30th over.
Mitchell Starc managed to prize movement with the swinging ball early on in the Sri Lanka innings.
Starc hit the pads of Pathum Nissanka off the veritably first ball, and Australia went up for a review after being turned down. still, they lost the review after it turned out that there was an inside edge.
The Sri Lanka openers let out a number of quality drives and cuts over the coming many overs to get the innings going.
Nissanka and Kusal Perera carried their attacking game into the coming Powerplay, taking 33 runs between overs 11- 15.
They opened their arms against the leg- incentive, Zampa, and took 16 off his first two overs. Perera brought up his half- century in the 19th over, while Nissanka followed with one of his own in the 20th over.
Australia eventually had a advance in the 21st over when Nissanka( 61) pulled a Pat Cummins delivery in the deep and ended up placing it towards themid-wicket region.
David Warner covered a substantial quantum of ground to his left before holding on to an exceptional catch.
Still, Perera kept Sri Lanka’s attack over and hit four fours in the coming three overs.
Sri Lanka’s new commander Mendis called it right at the toss and tagged to club first. He editorialized that a aggregate in the range of 280- 300 would be safe for his side, and that the ball might do a bit more under the lights.
Chamika Karunaratne and Lahiru Kumara came into Sri Lanka’s XI in place of Dasun Shanaka and Matheesha Pathirana, while Australia went with the same side that played against South Africa.
Sri Lanka entered a blow leading into the game in the form of a quadrangle injury to their commander Dasun Shanaka. The each- rounder has been ruled out of the event, with Mendis taking the captaincy arm.
Australia enjoy a head- to- head advantage over Sri Lanka, having won 63 games to 35 losses, but the Lions have proven to be a handy client in Asia. Then the sides are unevenly matched in the results column, with 18 successes to each of them.
Playing XIs
Australia Mitchell Marsh, David Warner, Steven Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis( wk), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins( c), Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
Sri Lanka Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Perera, Kusal Mendis( c)( wk), Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Chamika Karunaratne, Dunith Wellalage, Maheesh Theekshana, Dilshan Madushanka, Lahiru Kumara. Know More Latest Cricket News…
