Five-time champions Australia registered their first victory of the World Cup campaign with a commanding victory over Sri Lanka here on Monday.
Australian bowling line-up set the tone of the game and the batters kept their focus to clinch a five-wicket victory.
Australia stumbled early in the innings with David Warner, who is featuring in his last ODI World Cup, losing his wicket for a score of 11. Dilshan Madushanka trapped Warner in front of the stumps in the fourth over.
Raising further hopes for Sri Lanka, he sent Steve Smith back to the dugout for a duck. Mitchell Marsh and Marnus Labuschagne drove the innings from that point preventing yet another collapse. Marsh went on to score 52 but he was run out to due to good work in the field by Karunaratne. Kusal Mendis did not make any mistake as he dislodged the stumps before Marsh could drag his bat into the crease. Josh Inglis joined Labuschagne. Madushanka claimed the third victim of his night sending Labuschagne back for 40 in in 29th over. Dunith Wellalage claimed a consolation wicket of Inglis who struck a crucial 58 of 59 balls. Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis took the Baggy Greens across the finishing line with scores of 31* and 20* respectively. Earlier in the innings, Sri Lanka were bundled out for 209 runs in 43.3 overs. Electing to bat first, Sri Lankan openers were off to a fantastic start as openers Kusal Perera and Pathum Nissanka set a foundation for something big. The duo targeted Australia’s pace trio of Pat Cummins-Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc in a controlled manner in the powerplay, bringing up the 50-run mark in 9.1 overs.
At the end of 10 overs, Sri Lanka was 51/0, with Perera (24*) and Nissanka (22*)
unbeaten.
