The five-time world champions began their World Cup mission in 2023 with two consecutive defeats. Pat Cummins’ team had to face heavy criticism starting from fans to former cricketers. But the Aussies proved their capability in the third match. Maxwell-Smith won their first World Cup victory by defeating Sri Lanka.
Australia beat Sri Lanka by 5 wickets at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Stadium in Lucknow on Monday (October 16). Australia reached the port of victory with 88 balls left to bat against the target of 210 runs given by the Lankans.
It was expected that the Lucknow pitch would be a bit slow. However, winning the toss and batting, Sri Lanka had an impeccable start. Their score stood at 125 as the two openers made half-centuries. That too at a run rate of around 6.
Adam Zampa, Pat Cummins, and Mitchell Starc were the heroes to bring Australia back into the match. Pat Cummins gave the opening blow. He sent back the two Lankan openers Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Perera. Nissanka returned to 61 off 67 balls. Kusal Perera slashed 78 off 82 balls in 12 boundaries.
After that, no one could stand well on the crease. Captain Kusal Mendis (9) and Sadeera Samarawickrama (8) were sent back by Adam Zampa with two consecutive balls. After a while, it started raining. After the rain delay, Mitchell Starc bowled Dhananjaya De Silva (7) on the second ball as the game resumed.
Dunith Wellalage(2) was run out by a brilliant throw from Cummins. Chamika Karunaratne (2), who came to play the World Cup as a replacement for captain Dasun Shanaka, has been dismissed by Zampa. Maheesh Theekshana also fell victim to Zampa’s ball.
Charith Asalanka was fighting alone even though wickets fell on one side. He was sent back to the dressing room by Glenn Maxwell. He played an innings of 25 runs off 39 balls. In the end, Sri Lanka’s innings stopped at 209 runs. They were all out scoring 209 runs from 125 for no wicket. In other words, Sri Lanka’s 10 wickets have fallen with a gap of only 84 runs.
Although the start was good in chasing the target, Australia suffered a big blow in the team’s 24 runs. The Aussies lost the wickets of David Warner and Steve Smith in the same over of Dilshan Madushanka. In the next over, the umpire declared Marnus Labuschagne also to be caught behind. However, he survived taking the review.
Mitchell Marsh and Labuschagne put on a 57-run partnership for the third wicket. The pair broke when Marsh returned after playing an innings of 52 runs off 51 balls. However, the Lankans could not take advantage of the breakthrough. Labuschagne made a partnership of 77 runs with Jos Inglis for the fourth wicket. Inglis scored a great fifty. Under pressure, he scored 58 runs off 59 balls hitting 5 fours and 1 six.
Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis did not let the danger come even though Inglis and Labuschagne (40) were out at the end. Both of them batted brilliantly and left the field winning the game for their team. Maxwell scored 31 runs off 21 balls in a flurry of batting. 20 runs from 10 balls came from Stoinis’s bat.
Sri Lanka – 209/10 (43.3)
Australia – 215/5 (35.2)
Result – Australia won by 5 wickets
Player of the match – Adam Zampa
Australia | Pat Cummins (c), Josh Inglis (wk), Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith, David Warner, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Marcus Stoinis, and Josh Hazlewood. |
Sri Lanka | Kusal Mendis (c & wk), Kusal Perera, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Pathum Nissanka, Charith Asalanka, Chamika Karunaratne, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dunith Wellalage, Lahiru Kumara, Maheesh Theekshana, and Dilshan Madushanka. |
PS-W vs MR-W (11th Match) – Highlights In this article, we will discuss the 11th match of the Women’s Big Bash League between Perth
BH-W vs HH-W (10th Match) – Highlights In this article, we will discuss the thrilling Women’s Big Bash League clash between Brisbane Heat Women
MS-W vs SS-W (9th Match) – Highlights In this article, we will discuss the 9th match of the Women’s Big Bash League 2024, where