DUBAI : Super 12s – Adam Zampa put a halt for Sri Lanka’s batting with 4 for 12 runs to restrict Sri Lanka for 154 for 6 wickets in the allotted 20 overs. David Warner led the chase with a knock of 65 to convincingly win against Sri Lanka by 7 wickets for the loss of 3 wickets.
Australia winning the toss invited Sri Lanka to bat first. Pathum Nissanka fell for 7 runs but Kusal Perera (35 runs off 25 balls) and Charith Asalanka (35 runs off 27 balls) put together 63 runs for the 2nd wicket. However Sri Lanka lost 4 quick wickets (Asalanka, Kusal Perera, Avishka Fernando and W.Hasaranga) for just 16 runs. SL struggled till Bhanuka Rajapaksa (33 runs) steadied the innings to pass the 150 mark.
Chasing the SL score, Australian openers Warner and Finch were aggressive and put together 70 for the opening wicket in 6.5 overs. Wanindu picked up the wickets of Finch (37 runs) and Maxwell (5 runs). However Smith (28* runs) and Stoinis (16*) took Australia to an easy win by 7 wickets (155 for 3 wickets with 3 overs remaining).
Australia moved up to the Group 1 points table to the 2nd position pushing Sri Lanka down to 4th position. England still leads the group with a positive net run rate of 3.614. Sri Lanka and South Africa have won one match each however South Africa is at 3rd position on a better run rate.
Adam Zampa was named the player of the match for his destructive bowling spell of 4 for 12. (RZ)
[Image credit icc-cricket.com]
