Australia win by 134 runs
In lots of T20 games, teams don’t even make a score as big as the margin of Australia’s win today. They have thumped the Sri Lankans, who actually have an excellent record of winning T20 series in Australia. But often Australian teams of the past have been a bit haphazard, where now the format is being taken a bit more seriously.
Finch was destructive early, allowing Warner to ease into his day. Warner then charged on to a fast century, his first in the format and his 39th international century overall, and on his 33rd birthday for the finishing touch. When Finch fell for 64, Glenn Maxwell came in for one of his trademark whirlwinds, 62 from 28 balls at a strike rate of 221.
Sri Lanka were never likely to get near 234, but their batting reply was overcooked asparagus. The Australians didn’t have to outbowl them, they really just put the ball there and waited a very short time for mistakes.
Spare a thought for Rajitha – 0 for 75 and a second-ball duck. But, terrible games happen in T20s, and good ones might be just around the corner. Sri Lanka will need to get their act together in Melbourne in a couple of days.
We’ll see you there.
20th over: Sri Lanka 99-9 (Malinga 13, Pradeep 8) Cummins to finish things off for Australia, one way or another. Beats Malinga’s waft on the outside edge. Beats Malinga’s waft on the inside edge, bouncing over the stumps. Yorks Malinga who somehow gets a connecting with a slog after backing away and keeps the ball out. Then Cummins bowls length, and Malinga swats it over wide long-on for four!
Cummins isn’t happy. Gives the next short ball a lot more pepper, and a half-ducking Malinga is nowhere near it with his pull shot. But the last ball Cummins misses the yorker, and Malinga can drive it to wide long-on along the ground this time for two.
That’s it!
19th over: Sri Lanka 93-9 (Malinga 7, Pradeep 8) Nuwan Pradeep has now outscored six of his teammates, as he carves Richardson over backward point for four, and moves to 7. Nice shot. Then pulls a single. Malinga swings at everything and only connects for a single from the last ball.
18th over: Sri Lanka 87-9 (Malinga 6, Pradeep 3) The one Sri Lankan player who has had a good day is Nuwan Pradeep, who only conceded 28 from his overs. He makes more runs than a few of his teammates in quick time too, backing away from Mitchell Starc to flat-bat over the bowler’s head for a couple. Follows up with a competent squeeze for one against the yorker. Starc just keeps trying to hit that full length.
17th over: Sri Lanka 83-9 (Malinga 5) Two in his final over, and Zampa finishes the day with 3 for 14. You’ll take that.
Wicket! Rajitha st Carey b Zampa 0 (2 balls)
After conceding 75 runs from his four overs, the most expensive bowling spell in this format’s history, Kasun Rajitha is given out for a golden duck. But he gets his first win for the day, challenging the decision and finding that he got a tiny inside edge on his sweep before Zampa pinned him in front.
His reprieve lasts one ball, until he heaves at the next ball as well, misses, and drags his back foot out of the crease. Stumped.
Wicket! Sandakan c Agar b Zampa 6 (7 balls)
This is like sitting through a list of terrible speeches at a wedding. Interminable. Zampa turns the ball away a fraction, Sandakan wallops it over cover, but isn’t to the pitch and can’t get enough to clear Agar in the deep.
16th over: Sri Lanka 81-7 (Sandakan 6, Malinga 3) Decent shot from Sandakan as Cummins bowls full, and the Sri Lankan spinner drives him straight down the ground for four. That was quality. Not so effective against the short ball though, swinging and missing plenty.
15th over: Sri Lanka 74-7 (Sandakan 1, Malinga 1) Very much the bowlers at the crease now for Sri Lanka. Zampa 1 for 12 off three.
Wicket! Shanaka c Richardson b Zampa 17 (18 balls)
The procession continues, with Shanaka swiping for a big top edge caught at backward point.
14th over: Sri Lanka 71-6 (Shanaka 17) Agar finishes off his spell with a string of dots and singles, then the run-out at the end. Four overs, 1 for 13. Bingo.
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Wicket! Hasaranga run out Maxwell 5 (10 balls)
What an effort from Glenn Maxwell! He’s on the mic to the TV broadcaster having a chat to the commentators as Agar trots in for the last ball of his spell. Hasaranga slaps it over cover towards the rope. It’s Maxwell’s ball. “Run out,” he says on mic as he sprints around the boundary, before he’s reached the ball and before the batsmen have turned for their second run. He’s right, too. Scoops it clean as a whistle, unleashes an 80-metre throw right by the stumps, and Alex Carey has the batsman short by a mile.
That. Is. Glorious.
13th over: Sri Lanka 66-5 (Shanaka 15, Hasaranga 2) Shanaka is at least trying to swing. Slices a couple to third man, then takes on a bouncer and clobbers it over midwicket for six! Good shot, waited for the slower ball and timed it. It was a no-ball as well, but Richardson nails his wide yorker to keep the free hit scoreless. A lot of dot balls for Richardson in the over still, despite that big hit.
12th over: Sri Lanka 57-5 (Shanaka 7, Hasaranga 2) Agar, meanwhile, has figures of 1-8 off his three overs. It must be nice to be a spinner in a broken run chase when no one is willing to play a shot at you.
11th over: Sri Lanka 55-5 (Shanaka 6, Hasaranga 1) Shanaka drives a boundary straight, but Starc still finishes his third over with ridiculous figures of 2-14.
Wicket! Kusal Perera b Starc 16 (16 balls)
Another one goes down, as Mitchell Starc comes back into the fray. He hits Shanaka on the helmet second ball of the over, while might well have influenced Perera to hang back to the next ball, after a leg bye. Starc bowls this one to the left-handed Perera from over the wicket, base of leg stump, swinging a bit and evading the defensive grope that Perera is in no position to play. Clunk.
10th over: Sri Lanka 49-4 (Kusal Perera 16, Shanaka 2) Halfway mark. Dasun Shanaka next to the crease, who can hit a long ball but will need to hit about 20 of them.
Wicket! Fernando b Agar 13 (21 balls)
Strange old innings, 13 from 21 when you needed 12 an over from the get-go. And a soft dismissal, as Fernando tries to prod a straight-break off his pads, misses mostly, gets a little inside edge, and plays it off the pad onto his stumps.
9th over: Sri Lanka 45-3 (Kusal Perera 14, Fernando 13) Carey misses a stumping! Down gallops Perera, looking to loft Zampa down the ground, but the top-spinner skips past him with pace. It bounces too much for Carey though, and bounces off his body and away.
8th over: Sri Lanka 40-3 (Kusal Perera 10, Fernando 12) Ashton Agar now, turning the ball the same way as Zampa but via a left-arm orthodox action. Very tidy over, only two runs from it. Sri Lanka adrift.
7th over: Sri Lanka 38-3 (Kusal Perera 9, Fernando 11) Spin time with the field setting relaxed. Adam Zampa the leg-spinner on show. Sri Lanka working some ones and twos, but they need about 16 an over. An appeal as Fernando misses a sweep, but it’s sliding down and he nets three leg byes.
6th over: Sri Lanka 29-3 (Kusal Perera 5, Fernando 10) Cummins drawing more false shots, but Fernando edges one to third man for four, and splices another over cover for two. Perera gets one out of the middle through midwicket to end the over.
5th over: Sri Lanka 17-3 (Kusal Perera 0, Oshada Fernando 3) Kane Richardson bowls another quiet over, just two runs from the bat over cover. There’s a wide also, and Finch probably saves another wide by distracting the umpire with an appeal after Fernando slashes outside off.
4th over: Sri Lanka 14-3 (Kusal Perera 0, Oshada Fernando 1) A fair over for Patrick Cummins, 2-2 at the end of it. Oshada Fernando survives the hat-trick ball but Perera could have been run out at the striker’s end as they took a single from a straight push.
Wicket! Rajapaksa b Cummins 2 (6 balls)
Straight through him! The batsmen swapped ends while the previous ball was in the air, so the other incumbent batsman was on strike. Left-hander again. Cummins over the wicket, on leg stump, maybe moved the ball back a bit off the seam and straight through the forward push to hit middle. Clunk.
Wicket! Gunathilaka c Warner b Cummins 11 (13 balls)
Pretty tame dismissal in the end, again to a cross-bat shot. This time Gunathilaka walks at Cummins and tries to clobber him over the on-side, but miscues it high to mid-off and Warner.
3rd over: Sri Lanka 12-1 (Gunathilaka 11, Rajapaksa 0) A couple of nice shots from Gunathilaka, starting to find his groove as a left-hander against the left-armer. He forces Starc on the up through backward point for four, then gets a straighter ball and glances it fine for four more.
If you’re updating your bingo cards, Mark Waugh has just observed that “they have good wrists, these Sri Lankan players,” then followed up news on that anatomical marvel by reiterating that Isa Guha is “our expert” on pronouncing Sri Lankan names. Yep.
2nd over: Sri Lanka 4-1 (Gunathilaka 1, Rajapaksa 0) The struggles continue for Sri Lanka. Kane Richardson bowling, a decent line and length, but the batsmen are caught between wanting to go after him and not wanting to start a collapse. They take only a couple of singles, then the left-handed Gunathilaka tries to flay the last ball over point and should be caught by Agar on the rope, but the low catch is put down.
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1st over: Sri Lanka 1-1 (Gunathilaka 1, Rajapaksa 0) The perfect start for Australia: wickets, barely a run, and the required rate shoots up.
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Wicket! Kusal Mendis c Turner b Starc 0 (3 balls)
Starc to start off, Maxwell at backward point into the game immediately as Starc’s pace and fuller length jumps at the bat and can only be skewed away on the bounce. Both batsmen just trying to defend Starc’s early deliveries, with only a single from the first four balls. The fifth, Kusal Mendis tries to hook the short ball, he’s late on it, and it bobbles up to square leg for a catch.
*Glenn Maxwell’s textbook. Photograph: David Mariuz/AAP
Sri Lanka must chase 234 to win
There have only been two higher run chases to win in international cricket. Australia have Cummins and Starc to rough them up. It will take something extraordinary.
It’s been a fun day for Australia so far. Finch shook off his concerns from last season. Warner will have quietened a few doubts. Maxwell provided the pyrotechnics. The only downside was that Steve Smith didn’t get a chance to show his stuff, but there are five more matches in this quick run before the Tests begin.
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Century! Warner 100 (56 balls)
20th over: Australia 233-2 (Warner 92, Maxwell 62) Dasun Shanaka, the all-rounder, has to bowl the last over with Malinga bowled out early. He starts very wide of off stump, and Warner goes after it but is nowhere near it. It’s called a wide though, and Warner carves the re-bowl through backward point for four! Beats the field and goes finer of the sweeper! He’s on 96. Can he get there? Not this ball! He throws his head back in anguish as his next cut shot only gets him a single. Maxwell falls next ball. Ashton Turner comes to the middle, and has no interest but getting a single. Warner carves over cover! Won’t reach the boundary but comes back for two runs. Moves to 99. The field comes in. But he jams away a full ball behind point, belts through for the single, and raises his first T20I century. More runs in this innings than he made in five Ashes Tests, will be the punchline, but with each innings like this he can start to put that horror series behind him.
Wicket! Maxwell c Kusal Perera b Shanaka 62 (28 balls)
He’s caught behind, between his legs, trying to squeeze the ball behind square. But was that out. The ball went past Maxwell’s inside edge as he had his legs apart, perhaps trying to play the ball between his legs. Yet somehow after (presumably) taking a nick, the ball carried through to the keeper. Given out after a long period of consideration by the umpire. Maxwell reviewed, and for a long time it looks lie the third umpire thinks he’s not out. “Nothing evident there,” he keeps saying while looking at the replays. But right at the end he decides that the bundle of noise on the Snickometer means there was a nick. Unorthodox player, unorthodox dismissal. That was fun.
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19th over: Australia 223-1 (Warner 92, Maxwell 62) Can Warner get a hundred? Only a single from this over for him, with another dot against Pradeep to start. Maxwell plays another outrageous shot, a reverse scoop again, but this time reaching for the ball well outside off stump rather than playing it off the line of his body. There’s actually a slip in place, or a short third man almost, but Maxwell plays it anyway. And goes over and fine of that man for four! Then Maxwell slices two from the last ball, thanks to an overthrow that gives Warner strike for the last over.
Half century! Maxwell 50 from 22 balls
18th over: Australia 216-1 (Warner 91, Maxwell 56) To this point, Rajitha had bowled the most expensive three-over spell in T20 Internationals. He manages to pull things back at the start of this over, bowling not one but two dot balls in a row to Glenn Maxwell, hitting his yorkers. Maxwell finds a single, then Warner carves a boundary to move to 90, and moves past the 89 that he made in his first ever international match, all the way back in 2009 against South Africa at the MCG. Who would have thought that it would stay his highest score in this format for all this time? He’s on for a hundred today.
Things don’t end for Rajitha as well as they started this over though. Maxwell wants payback for those dot balls. He takes it with six runs, a full toss lifted high over the leg side and into the midwicket crowd. Raises his milestone from just a handful of deliveries. Then six more! Again that helicopter whip of the bat, this time to leg! And another shot into the crowd!
17th over: Australia 198-1 (Warner 86, Maxwell 43) Malinga nails the yorker again, but Maxwell manages to play it straight this time, meaning he can come back for two. Gives himself room for the next ball, winds up big, playing that almost helicopter style that he enjoys, whipping through the ball and into a big follow through with the bat over his shoulder. In between those points, he manages to lace the ball through cover, along the ground, for four! It’s so well timed that it scorches past the cover fieldsmen, and splits the boundary riders. Gracious. And finally, from his 18th ball, Maxwell faces a dot. He tries the ramp against Malinga and misses the full ball, through to the keeper. Then finds the cover sweeper for a single. But Warner takes up the challenge and drops two runs gently to the leg side, then carves four through cover.
16th over: Australia 185-1 (Warner 80, Maxwell 36) They can’t find a dot ball to Maxwell, who digs out the yorker again. A couple of dot balls to Warner, as Pradeep continues his good work for the day, the only bowler not to be collared. But when Maxwell gets the strike back he switches his hands into a reverse ramp shot, over third man for four! That’s extraordinary touch with the upturned face of the bat. Then keeps strike with a single through cover. He’s 36 from 15.
15th over: Australia 178-1 (Warner 79, Maxwell 30) Malinga comes on, desperate for control and a wicket. Not from Maxwell though, who finds another boundary. Maxwell is trying that pick-up shot for six off his pads that he favours, spinning his body towards square leg, but he gets an inside edge on the shot and lobs it over the keeper for four instead. That’ll do. Malinga totally loses the next ball, miles down the leg side and it bounces off the pitch. Warner asks why that wasn’t called a no-ball, and the umpire says that the wide call comes before the no-ball call. Malinga zeroes in on the perfect yorker spot next up, and Maxwell can only squeeze it off his toes for one. Width to Warner, who carves another boundary through backward point, then two more cut off the toe of the bat. Maxwell 30 off 12.
14th over: Australia 165-1 (Warner 72, Maxwell 25) Maxwell, flying already, down on one knee and sweeps, hard and flat, out through square leg for four! Gunathilake dives but is touching the rope as he saves. Hasaranga the leggie is bowling, and next ball Maxwell leans back and heaves over midwicket for six! It went high and long, dropping into the crowd where it’s caught and given out by the gentleman in the seats. Carves through point but can’t beat the field this time. Warner can though, by getting a fat full toss, served up on a dish with gravy around it, waist high, and he pulls it over square leg for six! Then lofts down the ground for four! Ouch, Sri Lanka. Maxwell 25 from 10, strike rate of 250 now. Hasn’t faced a dot ball.
13th over: Australia 143-1 (Warner 61, Maxwell 14) Warner off strike taking an extra run after the keeper fumbles a wide. Maxwell facing Sandakan is taking guard well outside leg stump, wanting to give himself lots of room to move. And move he does, switching to a left-handed stance and sweeping over backward point for four! He had a space on the off side and found a way to use it. Next ball, Maxwell holds his original pose and goes over cover for four more! Lofted, classy shot finding the gap. He tries the reverse again to follow, but can only get a single to short third. Warner gives him back the strike, but Maxwell’s sweep only takes a top edge for a couple of runs over fine leg, then keeps the strike with a single to cover. Maxwell going at a lazy strike rate of 200 so far.
12th over: Australia 128-1 (Warner 60, Maxwell 2) A consolidation over, and Sri Lanka will be happy with that, just slowing the charge for six balls. Only five singles from it, with Maxwell taking two from his two balls faced. Setting himself, but Warner taking a breather as well from Hasaranga.
11th over: Australia 123-1 (Warner 57, Maxwell 0) Warner gets a run from the final ball of the over, and away they’ll go with a new partnership.
Wicket! Finch c Kusal Mendis b Sandakan 64 (36 balls)
Finch goes! Sweeps Sandakan twice for four along the ground, but tries to go aerial from the fifth ball of the over and it comes down shy of the rope, where Mendis takes a good catch diving forward. Finally the breakthrough, and Glenn Maxwell next in.
Half century! Finch 54 from 31 balls, Warner 51 from 28 balls
10th over: Australia 112-0 (Finch 55, Warner 55) Australian batsmen love facing the white Kookaburra ball in home conditions where there’s no lateral movement. It was harder to tee off in England during the World Cup back in June and July with the ball often seaming or swinging, but here you can just go through the line. Finch does, high and long over backward square off his legs, dropping it for six. Takes a single. Warner follows up with six of his own, over cover to just clear the rope! And again, off his legs this time over midwicket, six more!
That’s Warner’s fifty as well as Finch’s in the over, and Warner follows up by lacing Rajitha through cover for four. Poor old Rajitha has gone for 57 from 18 balls. Will he get another over?
9th over: Australia 87-0 (Finch 46, Warner 39) Welcome Australia’s new right-hander! David Warner plays a full switch-hit sweep to Sandakan for four! Great contact, out through backward square leg. Warner was batting right-handed and left-handed in the nets before this match, alternating with each delivery, so he’s in touch with either hand apparently.
8th over: Australia 80-0 (Finch 44, Warner 34) Wrist-spin that goes the other way from the other end, with Wanindu Hasaranga. He’s a fast leg-spinner in the modern style, putting some serious work on the ball but getting it to skip through. A couple of singles from his first three balls, but then Finch decides he’s got to go. Fakes a step-away, then just shuffles back to make a bit of room, and takes a decent ball from just outside off stump over extra cover for six! Big strike! Then gets a similar ball next up and goes the other way for six, over midwicket! Steps back, has just enough length to get under the ball, and heaves it away. Then tries to take a crazy single to the on-side, Hasarange runs and slides and fields, and while he has all the time in the world, he has a wild throw at the stumps while still lying on the ground. Misses, and would have run him out easily.
7th over: Australia 65-0 (Finch 30, Warner 33) As soon as the fielding restrictions end, on comes Lakshan Sandakan. A left-arm wrist spinner, he helped roll Australia over in the Kandy Test match of 2016 on debut. He’s had a haircut since then, reduced the floppy curls. Doesn’t start his first over well though: a drag-down that Warner pulls for two, then floating down leg and swept for two. Produces three dot balls by bowling tighter on the stumps, but slips leg side to close out the over, and Warner plays a double-hit sweep that hits the face of the bat once near the splice, then again out of the middle as the shot catches up with the ball, Warner laughingly relating this to Finch as they set off for a run. But the ball runs for four.
6th over: Australia 57-0 (Finch 30, Warner 25) The Sri Lankans need control to close out the Powerplay, and Nuwan Pradeep provides it. A series of slower balls, changing the pace regularly and not giving width, and the Australians can only take five singles. Still, they’ve ended the fielding restrictions period going at 9.5 runs per over.
5th over: Australia 52-0 (Finch 28, Warner 22) Rajitha back at Malinga’s end, and Warner is getting frustrated with 7 from 8 deliveries. So he dips his knees a bit, takes a swing across the line at a fuller ball, and smears it over midwicket for four. One bounce not far from the rope. That forces Rajitha to err twice with the next ball, striving for pace: he pushes it wide, and he oversteps. Warner slices the wide ball to the third man fence for four! And has a free hit to follow, which he pulls for six into the Chappell stand! Fair hit that, just picked it up from a medium length and sent it soaring.
He’s stopped from taking a second run after carving into the carvers, and then Finch gets in on the act with a lofted drive over cover for four. That’s 21 from the over.
4th over: Australia 31-0 (Finch 23, Warner 7) Nuwan Pradeep replacing Rajitha after one over, and immediately he’s through Finch, striking the pad and appealing loudly. Was that going down the leg side? Not out, says the umpire. Finch decides to heave away, twice connecting with about half of a fuller ball and dragging it away through the leg side, hitting gaps in the field for four.
3rd over: Australia 20-0 (Finch 13, Warner 6) A brilliant controlling over from Malinga, pitching up but giving no width to play it, cramping each of the batsmen and limiting them to a couple of singles. Now Mark Waugh is making jokes about Isa Guha’s bowling being so slow it’s measured in negative kilometres an hour. Wow, the LOLs.
2nd over: Australia 20-0 (Finch 13, Warner 6) A decent battle there. Rajitha gets some seam movement and beats Finch twice, but in between times Finch clobbers a couple through the off side for four.
1st over: Australia 9-0 (Finch 5, Warner 3) First ball of the over, four. Finch struggled hard in the last home summer in all formats, after a promotion to the Test team destabilised his one-day batting. But he gets a good chance to get going with his first ball of this season, short and wide and sitting up to be cracked through cover point for four.
Malinga comes back with a smart delivery, rolling the seam and getting it to cut away from the edge. Finch goes hard at the next and gets a thick edge for a single to third man. Now it’s Warner on strike for his first ball... and he gets a misfield at backward point! Through for a couple of runs. Then a single punched down the ground.
For those playing at home, it has taken Mark Waugh four deliveries of the international season to make a long and laboured “gee these Sri Lankan names are hard to pronounce” gag. He says Isa Guha can do them all. Do you get it? She must know how because she’s Asian. (Not because she actually bothers to do preparation for her job.) File that under vintage Australian comedy gold, shall we?
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Lasith Malinga, the fast bowler, will captain Sri Lanka today on his return to the side. The keeper Kusal Perera and batsman Kusal Mendis are the other two who sat out the tour of Pakistan who are playing today. Malinga has the new ball.
Teams
There will be a lot of firsts for Steve Smith and David Warner this summer, but this one is simple enough: their first game for Australia at home in any format since their year-long bans after Cape Town 2018. They’re both back in the side. Warner has had a lot of low scores across all formats lately, and needs some confidence, while Smith needs to show that he’s actually in Australia’s best T20 side versus some more powerful strikers. He’s highly versatile, but Test cricket is his forté.
Australia
Aaron Finch *
David Warner
Steve Smith
Glenn Maxwell
Ashton Turner
Alex Carey +
Ashton Agar
Pat Cummins
Mitchell Starc
Kane Richardson
Adam Zampa
Sri Lanka
Kusal Mendis
Danushka Gunathilaka
Bhanuka Rajapaksa
Kusal Perera +
Oshada Fernando
Dasun Shanaka
Wanindu Hasaranga
Lakshan Sandakan
Nuwan Pradeep
Kasun Rajitha
Lasith Malinga *
Sri Lanka win the toss and will bowl
The visiting team prefer to chase, as so many do in T20s. That will give us a look at the Australian batting first-up. Sri Lanka have plenty to feel confident about, after touring Pakistan against the No1 T20 side in the world and winning 3-0. There will be some personnel changes though, after a lot of Sri Lankan players chose not to tour Pakistan.
Preamble
Well, the Australian cricket season this year began before the English one had ended, with the men and women’s versions of the 50-over domestic competition getting underway in September. The women’s international players started their season not long after, and now a month later the men’s internationals get underway with half a dozen T20 games, three against Sri Lanka and then three against Pakistan. Not that you’d know it if you don’t have cable TV, because all of these games will only be broadcast visually in Murdoch land.
Luckily the OBO is here, and ABC radio, to help those follow these games who should wish to.
