Finally, the five-time world champion Australia saw their first victory in the World Cup. Pat Cummins’ team picked up their first win in the World Cup by defeating Sri Lanka by a huge margin of five wickets in their third match of the World Cup.
Ajira lost 2 wickets for only 24 runs after coming down to bat against the target of 210 runs given by Sri Lanka. After 2 wickets fell for 24 runs, the pair of Marnus Labuschagne and Mitchell Marsh saved the team from disaster. In the end, with 58 runs from Jos English and Glenn Maxwell’s unbeaten 31 runs, Australia left the field with a big victory of 5 wickets with 88 balls remaining.
The second innings started late due to rain. Mitchell Marsh and David Warner opened for Australia today. These two openers started the game with a bang, but David Warner went back to the dugout after being lbw by Dilshan Madushankar. He scored 11 runs off 6 balls. They dismissed the opening pair of Australia for 24 runs. After Warner’s departure, Dilshan Madushanka’s second victim was Steven Smith, who returned for no runs. He also fell victim to LBW.
After Smith’s departure, Mitchell Marsh formed a partnership with Marnus Labuschagne. 56 runs come from this pair. This pair was broken by the departure of Mitchell Marsh, who brought up a personal half-century off 39 balls. After scoring 52 runs off 51 balls, he returned after being run out.
After the departure of Mitchell Marsh, Marnus Labuschagne formed a partnership with Joss Inglis. Marnus Labushane, who was on the verge of a personal half-century, scored 40 runs from 60 balls when Dilshan Madushanka’s third victim returned to Sajghar, and the pair broke for 76 runs. Jos Inglis paired with Glenn Maxwell after the departure of Marnus Labushan. Meanwhile, English took a personal half-century. He scored 50 runs off 46 balls. Which includes five fours and one six.
But Jos Inglis could not take his innings further after bringing up his personal half-century. Dunith was a victim of Velalag and returned to Sajghar with 58 runs off 59 balls. After the departure of Jos Inglis, Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis finally left the field with the victory. Glenn Maxwell remained unbeaten on 31 runs. And Marcus Stoinis remains unbeaten with 20 runs off 10 balls.
Earlier, Sri Lanka won the toss and went into bat against Australia. The team scored 124 runs in the opening pair. Pathum Nissanka and Kushal Perera, who came in as the openers for Sri Lanka today, played well from the start. Based on this pair, the Lankans took the team’s century in 17 overs. Meanwhile, Kushal Perera picked up his personal fifty. He scored 57 runs off 57 balls. Which includes 8 fours. After Kushal Perera, Pathum Nissanka also brought up a personal half-century. He scored 50 runs off 58 balls. Among which there are 6 four strokes. Nissanka could not take his innings further after picking up his half century. Tat Cummins fell victim to the pavilion. Another opener Kushal Pererao went back after Nisarkar. Ama Zagano Perera, who scored 78 off 82 balls, returned to the pavilion after falling victim to Patty Cummins.
After Perera, captain Kushal Mendis and Sadira Samarawickrama could not stay long at the crease. Kushal Mendis returned with just 9 runs off 13 balls. And Sadira Samaravikrama returned with 8 runs off 8 balls. On his departure, the Lankans fell into a batting disaster, losing 4 wickets for 166 runs.
After that, none of the five batters Dhananjaya de Silva, Dunith Velalage, Chamika Karunaratne, Mahish Thikshana and Lahiru Kumara reached double figures. Dhananjaya De Silva 7 off 13, Dunith Velalage 2 off 9, Chamika Karunaratne 2 off 11 and Mahish Thikshana 5 off 5 and Lahiru Kumara 4 off 8 back to the pavilion. Only Charith Asalanka could reach double figures towards the end. The Lankans were able to score 209 runs by playing 3 balls in 43 overs with 25 runs from his 39 balls. For Australia, Adam Zampa took 4 wickets, Mitchell Starc 2 wickets, Pat Cummins 2 wickets and Glenn Maxwell 1 wicket.
(October 16/NBW/ES)