(MENAFN- Colombo Gazette)
Australia will aim to improve upon their performance from the first match while there will be positives for Sri Lanka in the form of their bowling unit when the two sides clash again in Sydney.
For the World Champions, it was business as usual in the first T20I at Sydney as a thoroughly professional performance helped them to a relatively comfortable victory against the visitors. The bowling unit was on fire but there will be concerns in the batting department. The services of David Warner and Mitchell Marsh was missed as there was a lack of thrust at the top of the order. This will be an area which the Australians will aim to improve heading into the second contest at the same venue.
For Sri Lanka, the bowlers performed admirably well but there was a lack of intent in the batting department. Accelerating while not losing wickets at regular intervals will be their main area of focus. They will hope that the bowling department can replicate the performance of the first match. Skipper Dasun Shanaka will still back a relatively young unit to fight back hard on Sunday.
Bowling first, Sri Lankan bowlers bowled with great gusto and discipline to restrict Australia to 149/9. Ben McDermott got the hosts off to a decent start with a 41-ball 53. Marcus Stoinis' 17-ball 30 then helped Australia get to a score which their bowlers would feel confident about defending. For Sri Lanka, it was a collective bowling effort, with Binura Fernando being the pick of the bowlers with figures of 2/12 in his four overs.
In reply, no Sri Lankan batter apart from Pathum Nissanka (36) and Dinesh Chandimal (25) could mount much of a fightback. The chase was curtailed by one over due to rain interruptions but that did not make much of a difference as Sri Lanka still fell short by 20 runs (DLS method). Josh Hazlewood (4/12) and Adam Zampa (3/18) broke the backbone of the Sri Lankan batting unit.
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