Australia’s imminent challenge to turn Sri Lanka’s test wickets into “extremes” has been exposed, after leaving the one-day series with a four-run defeat in Colombo. Chasing 259, David Warner played a lone hand with 99 while Australia capitulated 189-4 in the 36th over to stay out by 254 and 3-1 in the five-game series.
The margin could also have been much worse, had it not been for the 35 of Pat Cummins and Matthew Kuhnemann who scored 14 of the final ahead of Dasun Shanaka before being caught in the ring on the final ball. But he could not document Australia’s rising battle against the turnaround. Seven wickets fell into the hands of the slowest bowling players as Sri Lanka played five rounds and sent 43 overs of them in a used wicket that spun well into the night.
Just over a week before the first test at Galle, the hosts’ victory will likely confirm the project on how they plan to beat Australia in the red ball format. Turner Jeffrey Vandersay took 2-40, Dhananjaya de Silva 2-39 and the mysterious Maheesh Theekshana 1-40.
Warner, meanwhile, had watched for control after Aaron Finch (0), Mitch Marsh (26), Marnus Labuschagne (14) and Alex Carey (19) came and went. The first one was cautious in the first steps, before throwing his hands on Theekshana and grabbing him.
He hit 12 limits in his stroke, passing hard through the decks and driving magnificently. And by the time he turned 99, Warner seemed almost certain to put an end to the century-long drought of his international career, which now stands at 48 entries in all formats.
But then the party swung violently in favor of Sri Lanka, giving them their first bilateral victory in a one-day series against Australia at home since 1992. With Warner at the non-front end, Travis Head ( 27) was released by Dhananjaya, before Glenn Maxwell was. lbw caught by Theekshana below.
And when Warner finally returned to strike, Dhananjaya unbalanced him and crossed his outer edge to leave him perplexed. Cameron Green followed shortly after, before the last efforts of Cummins (35) and Kuhnemann. No doubt the collapse will have evoked memories of the 2016 test tour for the locals, when Australia struggled to fight the twist in the 3-0 series defeat.
“This is an extreme twist; you don’t usually see those kinds of ports, “Warner said.” You only see them here. India is completely different. They don’t turn like that. They are actually good wickets. And they come back later in the day three or four [of Tests]. So everyone has to prepare as well as they can. It’s about being busy. It’s about committing. It is about baptizing long periods of time. And unfortunately, in the subcontinent, a small mistake will cost you. “
The good news for Australia on Tuesday was that their two best players of 2016 are back in shape, with Mitchell Starc and Steve Smith both seen in the nets with a red ball after finger and quad injuries. Cummins also played very well on the field, catching 2-37 and was unlucky not to have another early port when he hit Charith Asalanka’s leg with his left in one.
However, the bond did not fall, allowing Asalanka to lead Sri Lanka from 34-3 to 258 with its first international century of 110 of 106 balls.