By Shenol M.Wilson
It was an exciting day for the Aussies at Perth stadium as they were up for the challenge, not only to beat Asian Champions but also to recover their Net run rate after a huge loss with Kiwis. The pitch and conditions looked perfect for their pace attack.
Aussie captain won the toss and asked the Sri Lankan team to bat first. Unlike the New Zealanders, Sri Lankan top order came up with steady and slow start and they were able to get only 60 odd runs in first 10 overs. They were trying to up their gears but the consistent loss of wickets shorten their way to the par score as they were only able to get 157 runs for the loss of 6 wickets at the end of 20 overs.
Ever reliable Pathum Nissanka was the highest scorer for Lankan Lions and Charith Asalanka made them get to a responsible score with his knock of 38 runs of just 25 balls. Five bowlers of Aussie line up chipped in with 1 wicket and economical Michelle Starc just gave 23 runs off his 4 overs by taking a wicket.
Coming up for the chase, Australians were trying to get there as soon as possible in order to up their Net run rate. It was not that easy with the quality of Sri Lankan bowling attack in the first few overs as David Warner was dismissed just for 11 runs by Maheesh Theekshana. Mitchell Marsh and Aaron Finch were also finding it difficult to time as Sri Lankans were doing their bowling and fielding well.Maxwell tried his best to get them out of trouble with 23 off just 12 balls before he was dismissed with a superb catch by Ashen Bandara. Aussies were struggling a bit again when Maxwell was dismissed when the score was 89 in 13th over.
After all Marcus Stoinis arrived to the crease and he had other ideas as he just threw his bat around to deliver an amazing knock of 59 runs off just 18 balls. He was hitting it to all the parts of the grounds as they were able to get it all done in just 16.3 overs which helped them to recover their Net run rate after what happened on Saturday night. Highest scorer for the Aussies was Stoinis as he showed again why he is one of the best power hitters in the world. Aaron Finch who was struggling all through the inning was able to be there at the end being not out and he was able to be the real backbone of the run chase irrespective of all the chaos.
This run chase was able to get the Aussie run rate improved up to -1.555 and it is very important for them to keep up with this momentum.Aussies will meet their Ashes opponent England on Friday and it will be a huge challenge again for them with the kind of performance English players were able to deliver recently. On the other hand, Sri Lankans will meet New Zealanders on Saturday evening where they will have to up their game and deliver.