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Australia 215 for 5 (Inglis 58, Marsh 52, Labuschagne 40, Maxwell 31*, Stoinis 20*, Madushanka 3-38) won Sri Lanka 209 (Perera 78, Nissanka 61, Zampa 4-47, Cummins 2-32, Starc 2-43) with five wickets.
Australia chased down Sri Lanka’s under-par 209 with ease, sealing a five-wicket win in Lucknow to revive their faltering World Cup campaign. The result leaves Sri Lanka in second-bottom place with three defeats from three, and essentially needing only wins from now to stand a chance of reaching the semi-finals.
For Australia, this was a victory achieved through a dogged bowling effort, then capped by a chase of clarity of thought.
Having won the toss and elected to bat first on a pitch that Sri Lanka stand-in captain Kusal Mendis deemed a “280-300” track, Sri Lanka got off to the perfect start as the opening pair made 125 all out.
But a collapse of staggering proportions saw them lose ten wickets for just 84 runs – the worst such collapse in a World Cup since 2011, and Sri Lanka’s worst since their opening World Cup match – as they were bundled out for 209.
Adam Zampa was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 4 for 47, while Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc took two each. Although special mention must go to David Warner for grabbing two brilliant catches from deep to dismiss Pathum Nissanka and Mendis, the two wickets that in many ways catalyzed Sri Lanka’s downfall. It was also a fielding effort that was a welcome change for Australia, after their opening defeats to India and South Africa were marked by some uncharacteristically poor catching.
In defense of their total, Sri Lanka, especially Dilshan Madushanka, started excellently. Madushanka’s first 12 deliveries were no runs and two wickets, including a double wicket. While these two wickets would see the dangerous Warner and Steven Smith sent packing, Mitchell Marsh at the other end offered Sri Lanka no respite.
Marsh fired the first ball of the chase, a full delivery from Lahiru Kumara, to mid-on and didn’t look back. Mahesh Thekshana, who was brought into the attack early in the third over after Kumara had been hacked for 15 in his opener, was credited with a pair of brilliant boundaries, and Marsh repeated the feat in Kumara’s next over. But the worst went to Dunith Wellalage, who was hit for three boundaries in his opening over.
It took a brilliant throw from Shamika Karunaratne from deep to put Marsh away as he searched for a tight second, but by then a third of the chase had been called off, and the game was within reach. Josh Inglis and Marnus Labuschagne then put the result beyond doubt with a stand of 77 off 86. Despite both falling before the finish line, Inglis hit a half-century. The finishing touches were added by Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis, who came into the fray with turbo power in an already comfortable chase and eventually came home.
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