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14th over: Sri Lanka 55-1 (Madushka 32, Kusal 17) It’s time for the leg spin of Tanveer Sangha; I’m looking forward to watching him bowl. He has a whippy action, slightly reminiscent of Mushtaq Ahmed, the Pakistan magician of the 1990s. His third ball turns sharply to beat Kusal; the rest of the over is milked sensibly for five runs.
13th over: Sri Lanka 50-1 (Madushka 28, Kusal 16) An excellent bumper from Abbott forces Madushka to abort his planned hook stroke. Sri Lanka went too hard against the new balls on Wednesday and lost five wickets in the first 15 overs. So far today they’ve been more careful.
Abbott has started very accurately, which is reflected in figures of 3-0-5-0-.
12th over: Sri Lanka 49-1 (Madushka 27, Kusal 16) Madushka laps Short for a couple, with the ball going between Inglis’s gloves down the leg side. He saw it so late that it wasn’t really a chance. At first I wasn’t sure the ball had touched the ball but it was given as runs.
Kusal shapes to pull the last delivery, is surprised by some extra bounce and pats the ball into the leg side. The early signs are that there’s plenty in this pitch for the spin bowlers.
11th over: Sri Lanka 43-1 (Madushka 23, Kusal 15) A slower ball from Abbott beats Madushka, who watches the ball slightly quizzically as it goes past his off stump. Just three from the over.
10th over: Sri Lanka 40-1 (Madushka 22, Kusal 12) Australia have five slow bowlers in the side today. Matt Short is the first to come into the attack – and his first over goes for 13.
Kusal was fortunate to edge through the vacant slip region for four; Madushka had precisely no luck when he clouted Short back over his head for six. That ball gripped a bit but Madushka went through with the shot and nailed it.
9th over: Sri Lanka 27-1 (Madushka 15, Kusal 6) Sean Abbott replaces Dwarshuis, who bowled a good opening spell of 4-0-13-0. Australia’s seamers are bowling very straight to maximise any uneven bounce or two-pacedness. Is that a word? It is now!
Just wone from Abbott’s over, steered to third by Kusal Mendis.
8th over: Sri Lanka 26-1 (Madushka 15, Kusal 5) Hardie has a big LBW shout turned down against Kusal Mendis. An inside edge saved Mendis, who walked across his stumps and would have been plumb.
Madushka, not for the first time, mistimes an attacking stroke that doesn’t beat the infield. The early signs are that it’s another awkward pitch.
7th over: Sri Lanka 24-1 (Madushka 13, Kusal 4) Dwarshuis beats Madushka with a gorgeous delivery that pitches on middle and leg before moving away off the seam.
Madushka’s response is a withering back cut for four, a terrific shot from a perfectly good ball. Then Kusal Mendis is beaten by another cracking delivery angled across the right-hander.
6th over: Sri Lanka 19-1 (Madushka 9, Kusal 4) Hardie loses his line for the first time and is turned wristily round the corner for four by Kusal Mendis.
WICKET! Sri Lanka 15-1 (Nissanka b Hardie 6)
Dot balls = pressure = wickets. Nissanka charges Hardie, misses a wild mow across the line and is bowled to end a difficult innings of 6 from 20 balls. Excellent bowling from Hardie, who has been nagging away just full of a good length.
Nissanka looks suspiciously at the bottom of his bat as he walks off, which suggests he wouldn’t be great at Cluedo.
5th over: Sri Lanka 15-0 (Nissanka 6, Madushka 9) Dwarshuis’s first really bad delivery is turned off the hip for four by Madushka, whose name is hard to type without the brain veering off towards Kate Bush’s back catalogue.
An otherwise good over ends with a dangerous inswinger that beats Madushka on the inside. Sri Lanka are struggling to rotate strike; I think 25 of the 30 deliveries so far have been dot balls.
4th over: Sri Lanka 11-0 (Nissanka 6, Madushka 5) After eating up a few more dot balls – he scored from only one of his first 16 balls – Nissanka releases a bit of pressure by pushing Hardie’s final ball through midwicket for two. Australia have started pretty well with the ball.
3rd over: Sri Lanka 8-0 (Nissanka 4, Madushka 4) Dwarshuis lopes in to Nissanka, with two slips waiting for any edge. There is a bit of swing but nothing too extravagant, and Nissanka feels secure to punch a drive that is well stopped by the sprawling Maxwell at mid-off. A maiden.
2nd over: Sri Lanka 8-0 (Nissanka 4, Madushka 4) Aaron Hardie, who bowled very well in the first ODI, shares the new ball. Madushka slams a cut into the ground and past backward point for four to get off the mark. Sri Lanka are dealing exclusively in boundaries for now.
The commentators, Russel Arnold and Simon Katich, think the pitch looks similar to the one for the ODI, maybe slightly more cracked. Australia won’t want to chase much more than 220.
1st over: Sri Lanka 4-0 (Nissanka 4, Madushka 0) Dwarshuis, playing his second ODI, gets some encouraging early inswing. Nissanka times the fourth ball sweetly through extra cover for the first boundary. That’s the lot.
Time for the action. Ben Dwarshuis, LFM, will open the bowling to Pathum Nissanka.
Team news: Dwarshuis and Sangha among five changes
I thought Australia would pick their provisional XI for the Champions Trophy but Andrew McDonald has decided to rest some likely starters. In all there are five changes from the first ODI: Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell, Ben Dwarshuis and Tanveer Sangha replace Cooper Connolly, Alex Carey, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Ellis and Spencer Johnson.
Sri Lanka bring in Nishan Madushka for Avishka Fernando.
Sri Lanka Nissanka, Madushka, Kusal Mendis (wk), Kamindu Mendis, Asalanka (c), Liyanage, Wellalage, Hasaranga, Theekshana, Malinga, Asitha Fernando.
Australia Short, Head, Fraser-McGurk, Smith (c), Inglis (wk), Maxwell, Hardie, Abbott, Dwarshuis, Zampa, Sangha.
Sri Lanka win the toss and bat
Australia will be chasing, as in the first ODI, possibly on a similarly awkward pitch
Preamble
Rob Smyth
Hello and welcome to live, over-by-over coverage of the second and final ODI between Sri Lanka and Australia in Colombo.
Less than three weeks ago it looked like 10 of Australia’s World Cup-winning XI would be off to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy, with David Warner the only man missing. Now there are six men standing: Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and the Mitches, Starc and Marsh, have all been ruled out, and Australia find themselves having to rebuild a great team on the hoof.
This is their last official ODI before the Champions Trophy opener against England a week tomorrow. At the moment no warm-ups are scheduled, so Australia are likely to pick what Andrew McDonald thinks is their provisional XI going into the tournament.
That should mean a return for Travis Head, Glenn Maxwell and Josh Inglis, though it’s the composition of the bowling attack that is more intriguing. Adam Zampa is a sure thing; the other three or four places are up for grabs.
The bowling ability of Maxwell and Head, as well as Marnus Labuschagne and Matthew Short, plus the stellar batting form of Alex Carey, gives them plenty of options both in terms of personnel and the balance of the side.
Today’s match should give us a pretty good idea of their thinking, and whether this rejigged team has the potential to add the Champions Trophy to Australia’s bulging cabinet.
