Australia’s first aim on Wednesday (February 22) would be to salvage some pride, having already conceded the series with last-ball losses in both earlier games.

Aaron Finch, Australia’s captain for the series, didn’t mince words when he said after losing the first match that his country had underperformed in the format ‘since forever’.

In the absence of several big names including Steve Smith, the regular captain, David Warner and Mitchell Starc, the batsmen of Big Bash League fame have done a fairly good job. Michael Klinger has been steady at the top while Travis Head, Ben Dunk and Moises Henriques have quick runs against their name.

The inexperience, though, is telling in the bowling department as Australia has allowed Sri Lanka to twice chase down competitive totals despite having it in bother at various points. The likes of Andrew Tye and Billy Stanlake have not stepped up, giving the opponent an opening it has barged through. It has also left too much to do for the likes of James Faulkner and Pat Cummins.

Credit, however, should also go to the visitor. Sri Lanka came into the series having been whitewashed 5-0 by South Africa in the one-dayers, but was still high on confidence as it had won the preceding T20I series 2-1.

Sri Lanka now seems to have identified a brand of cricket that’s working wonders for it in the shortest format. What’s most refreshing about its turnaround is the freedom with which its batsmen have operated; irrespective of the situation, Sri Lanka’s batting mantra seems to be attack.

The onslaught in both games has been led by Asela Gunaratne, the latest hero. The right-hand middle-order batsman has twice helped Sri Lanka to victories in tough chases with half-centuries. The second game in particular was an absolute heist, as he helped his side hunt down 174 from 40 for 5 with a stunning, unbeaten 46-ball 84. Now with a maiden Indian Premier League contract in hand, Gunaratne will once look to re-establish his capabilities.

But Sri Lanka hasn’t been a one-man team as Dilshan Munaweera and Chamara Kapugedera have made vital contributions with the bat. It will, however, miss Niroshan Dickwella at the top, the wicketkeeper-batsman having been suspended on Tuesday for two limited-overs matches after showing dissent at the umpire’s decision in the previous game which pushed his cumulative demerit points beyond the minimum four.

The bowling too has been bolstered by Lasith Malinga’s return. Despite not playing for a year, Malinga has showed no signs of rustiness, sending down his famed yorkers with precision. Nuwan Kulasekara too will be on a high, having picked up four wickets in the second T20I.

Australia swept Sri Lanka 2-0 when they faced off in the T20Is in the island nation last year. On Wednesday, Sri Lanka will have an opportunity to return the favour, and even go one better.

Teams (from):

Australia: Aaron Finch (capt), Pat Cummins, Ben Dunk, James Faulkner, Travis Head, Moises Henriques, Michael Klinger, Tim Paine (wk), Jhye Richardson, Billy Stanlake, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa.

Sri Lanka: Upul Tharanga (capt), Vikum Sanjaya, Asela Gunaratne, Chamara Kapugedara, Nuwan Kulasekara, Lasith Malinga, Kusal Mendis (wk), Dilshan Munaweera, Sachith Pathirana, Seekkuge Prasanna, Lakshan Sandakan, Dasun Shanaka, Milinda Siriwardana, Isuru Udana.

MELBOURNE Friday: Chamara Kapugedera smashed a four off the last ball to give Sri Lanka a thrilling five-wicket victory over Australia in their first Twenty20 international at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday.

The win kept Sri Lanka unbeaten in four T20 internationals in Australia and followed their 2-1 series win over South Africa last month.

The pulsating win was made possible by a dashing 52 off 37 balls by Asela Gunaratne, who was named man-of-the-match for his match-turning innings.

Gunaratne slammed seven fours to share in a decisive 60-run stand with Milinda Siriwardana to put the Sri Lankans just 18 runs short of victory with 17 balls remaining. It was a tense finish with skipper Aaron Finch making fielding changes before every ball to prevent Sri Lanka from getting home.

But it was Kapugedera who stood up to the pressure and slammed fast bowler Andrew Tye’s final delivery through the covers to the boundary rope for the winning hit.

The win put Sri Lanka one up in the series with two matches to play in Geelong on Sunday and Adelaide on Wednesday.

For a time it looked as though the Australians, playing without their leading stars, Steve Smith, David Warner, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood all on tour in India, would hold off the fast-finishing Sri Lankans.

The home side posted a competitive total of 168 for six off their 20 overs with skipper Finch smashing two sixes and two fours in his topscoring 43 off 34 balls.

Finch shared in an opening stand of 76 with T20I debutant Michael Klinger.

Klinger, making his debut at the age of 36 after starring with the Perth Scorchers in the domestic Big Bash League, hammered 38 off 32 balls with four boundaries.

Lasith Malinga, who has played virtually no cricket for nearly a year due to injuries, was an influential figure taking two wickets in two balls and taking two catches.

Malinga claimed the wickets of Travis Head for 31 off 24 balls and debutant Ashton Turner for 18 off 13 balls, both caught by Seekkugge Prasanna at deep mid-wicket.

Malinga finished with two wickets for 29 off his four overs.

Paceman Pat Cummins struck with the last ball of his opening over getting skipper Upul Tharanga to edge to wicketkeeper Tim Paine for a duck in the first over of the Sri Lanka innings. Leg-spinner Adam Zampa claimed the big wicket of free-scoring opener Niroshan Dickwella for 30 off 25 balls.

Dickwella, who slammed four fours and a six, looked to flick Zampa over mid-wicket only to lob a leading edge to Klinger at short third man in the ninth over.

Dilshan Munaweera smashed a breezy 44 off 29 balls with six fours before he hit a short ball from Zampa to mid-wicket where Finch took a head-high catch. But Gunaratne took charge and his half-century turned the tide to set up the thrilling victory for the Sri Lankans.

While Haddin acknowledged the New South Welshman desperately needed a score after starting his Test career with three single-figure contributions, he called for patience as Australia ushers in a new era.

Maddinson has been retained in Australia’s squad for the second Commonwealth Bank Test against Pakistan, starting on Boxing Day, but allrounder Hilton Cartwright has also been drafted in as a 13th member, and could replace Maddinson in the Test XI.

Captain Steve Smith flagged on Monday Australia might look to ease the load on pacemen Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Jackson Bird with an allrounder. The fast-bowling trio sent down 113 overs between them in the second innings of the home team’s 39-run triumph in Brisbane.

Cartwright, who averages 44.50 with the bat and 41.93 with the ball from in 16 first-class matches, was added to the squad yesterday.

Maddinson made a duck on debut against South Africa in Adelaide last month – undone by a rampant Kagiso Rabada with the pink ball under lights – before Australia powered to a seven-wicket victory.

The 24-year-old, who has an average of 36.64 at first-class level, followed up with scores one and four at the Gabba.

Steve Smith reacts moments after the drama

Maddinson was unfortunate in the second innings, arriving at the crease with Australia in search of quick runs before a declaration.

The aggressive left-hander has logged 235 runs at 39.16, including one century, from three Sheffield Shield matches this summer.

Quick Single: Cartwright added for Boxing Day

“He’s been a bit unlucky, to be honest,” Haddin said on Sky Sports Radio.

“He’s got a couple of good balls, he’s (played his first two games) against two pink balls which is a bit different, so I’m glad they’ve given him Melbourne to give him the opportunity to get some runs and I hope they give him the rest of the series.

“I know (interim chairman of selectors) Trevor Hohns said when he picked this squad that you’re going to have to be patient, and Nic Maddinson is one of those players I think.

“But you can’t hide behind the fact he needs a big score.”

Maddinson’s rocky road in Test career continues

Maddinson was one of five changes in a revamped line-up for the Adelaide Test against South Africa, with Matthew Renshaw and Peter Handscomb also making their debuts.

Renshaw scored 71 in the first innings in Brisbane, while Handscomb hammered his maiden Test century to back up the 54 he made in Adelaide.

“The bowlers got through a high workload in Brisbane and although everyone has pulled up okay, on reflection we wanted to give ourselves the option of including an allrounder in Melbourne to ease that workload somewhat,” Hohns said.

Cartwright reflects on training with Aussie squad

“To do that we wanted a batting allrounder, someone to bowl seam-up and capable of batting in the top six as well, and after considering several names we came to the conclusion that Hilton fits that bill.

“We have seen plenty of him, he has performed well this season and we believe that if called upon he will do an excellent job.”

Australia’s Boxing Day Test squad: David Warner, Matt Renshaw, Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith (c), Peter Handscomb, Nic Maddinson, Matthew Wade, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, Jackson Bird, Chadd Sayers, Hilton Cartwright

Smith’s side depart for a tour of South Africa on Tuesday, with pacemen Starc and Josh Hazlewood both rested from the five-match ODI series that starts next week.

But Starc won’t be putting his feet up in a traditional sense.

The left-armer required 30 stitches after a freak fielding accident at training last week, when he slashed his leg on a stump that had been dug into the ground.

Starc held the catch but Smith was among shocked teammates to see the resultant deep gash that prompted medical staff to call an ambulance.

“It wasn’t nice at all. It was probably one of the most gruesome things I’ve ever seen,” Smith said on Monday.

“He was aware it (the stump) was there. It was just one of those things, you go for the ball and sort of almost block everything out. As he was catching it, a few us were saying ‘no, just don’t go for it’.

“He wasn’t overly impressed … he was about to have a bit of a rest and chill out, they’re the kind of things you don’t want happening.

“It wasn’t great but I’m sure in a couple of weeks he’ll be ok and back into things .. we’re confident he’ll be ok for the first Test.”

Starc was expected to play a handful of games for NSW in the second half of the domestic one-day competition, which starts on October 1.

The express paceman, who will be in a knee brace for a further fortnight, will now instead aim to be ready for the Blues’ Sheffield Shield opener that begins on October 25.

Should Starc suffer any setbacks in his recovery he will be racing the clock to be fit by November 3, when Australia’s three-Test series against South Africa starts in Perth.

In sharp contrast Smith is feeling refreshed after he was sent home to rest during a recent ODI series in Sri Lanka, much to the consternation of many former players.

“Everyone’s entitled to their opinion .. we could have got the messaging across a little bit better,” Smith said.

“We knew a fair way out that I was going to be leaving … (but) it shocked a few people.

“It will do me the world of good looking at what’s coming up.”

Smith hoped Australia could gain a mental edge over the Proteas by winning the upcoming ODI series but acknowledged the next few months would feature a lot of tough cricket.

“The South African team probably won’t be too different from the one-dayers to the Test matches,” Smith said.

“It’s a very fiercely-contested series every time you play against South Africa.”

Mathews suffered a strain to his right calf muscle while batting in the fourth one-day international at Dambulla and took no further part in the match which Sri Lanka lost by six wickets to concede a winning 3-1 lead to Australia.

Mathews returned to Colombo for further treatment. “Mathews underwent an MRI scan test today and it has been revealed that he has a Grade 2 calf strain on his right leg,” said Sri Lanka team manager Charith Senanayake.

“Mathews will undergo treatment and he has been ruled out of the rest of the series,” he said.

Australia has three more matches left to play on their two-month long tour of Sri Lanka. The fifth and final ODI takes place at Pallekele Stadium on September 4 and it will be followed by two Twenty20 Internationals on September 6 at Pallekele and on September 9 at the R Premadasa Stadium.

Vice-captain Dinesh Chandimal who substituted for Mathews as captain in the fourth ODI is likely to take over the reins for the remaining matches.

Meanwhile Sri Lanka have included fast bowling all-rounder Dasun Shanaka to replace Thisara Perera in the 16-man squad and also brought in two left-hand batsmen – experienced opener Upul Tharanga and wicket-keeper/batsman Niroshan Dickwella as replacements for Mathews and spinner Lakshan Sandakan.

Throughout the series Sri Lanka had problems with their opening batsmen.

They have tried out three different opening combinations in the first four games without success.

The inclusion of seasoned batter Tharanga and Dickwella who opened the batting for Sri Lanka ‘A’ on their recent tour to England suggests that Sri Lanka will try out their fourth opening combination at Pallekele on Sunday.

Whether Tharanga will be asked to open the batting is questionable. He has not opened in the last 10 ODIs in which he has batted and has 53 not out and 40 as his best knocks in those matches but those runs were scored batting at number seven. To recall Tharanga is like jumping from the frying pan into the fire for he has hardly done himself or the team any justice by his random inclusions in the team. To recall Tharanga is to admit that the country is devoid of specialist openers. The majority of Sri Lanka’s opening problems have been caused by fast

bowler Mitchell Starc who has managed to get early breakthroughs and put the middle order under pressure.

Sri Lanka will be able to heave a sigh of relief as it is learnt that Australia plan to rest Starc and his new ball partner Josh Hazlewood for the fifth ODI.

Chandimal (132) continued Sri Lanka’s superb fightback with his seventh test century after they were reduced to 26 for five on the first morning with the hosts’ innings finally coming to an end just before the tea break.

Australia, who face the very real prospect of losing their top test ranking and suffering a 3-0 series sweep, lost David Warner (11) early to Dhananjaya de Silva but Smith (61) and Marsh (64) then added 120 for the unbroken second wicket.

At stumps, the touring side reached 141 for one wicket, trailing Sri Lanka by 214 runs.

Earlier, Australia fast bowler Mitchell Starc picked up the last two wickets to fall, including the one of Chandimal, to complete his seventh career five-wicket haul and take his series tally to 22.

After resuming on 214-5, De Silva (129) and Chandimal put paid to Australia’s hopes of quick wickets by extending their sixth-wicket stand to 211 before the overnight centurion became off-spinner Nathan Lyon’s third victim.

Shaun Marsh, who had dropped De Silva on Saturday after the batsman had completed his maiden hundred, managed to hold on to the catch at forward short leg this time.

Dilruwan Perera (16) was the only other batsman to fall in the first session, giving left-arm spinner Jon Holland his first wicket of the innings as the batsman lofted a drive to Lyon at long on as he looked to up the tempo.

Chandimal, 26, was mostly watchful and concentrated hard during his knock but broke free to move into the 80s when he reverse swept Lyon for a superb six over the deep point boundary.

He turned Lyon for a single to square leg to complete his hundred off 281 balls, celebrating with a loud yell as he leapt in the air. He was dropped by Australia captain Steven Smith off the very next delivery.

Chandimal and Rangana Herath added 73 runs for the eighth wicket, deepening the frustration for Australia.

The partnership ended with Herath retiring hurt after suffering a body blow against paceman Josh Hazlewood.

Left-arm paceman Starc had Chandimal edging behind on the second delivery of his new spell and then dismissed Suranga Lakmal in his next over to complete his third consecutive five-wicket haul.

Dinesh Chandimal celebrates his seventh Test century on the second day of the third and final Test against Australia at the SSC grounds yesterday. Pictures by Rukmal Gamage,

The pair batted with determination and using their feet well to the Lankan spinners has so far put together their first century partnership of the series – 120 off 234 balls, after losing David Warner to the last ball before the tea break for 11.

Australia still trail Sri Lanka by 214 runs and have a lot of batting ahead of them because they will be batting last on this pitch which is expected to take more spin with the passing days.

The fact that there were no lbw dismissals in the Sri Lanka or the Australian innings so far gave an indication of how the pitch is playing compared to the 20 lbw decisions that were given in the first two Tests at Pallekele and Galle.

If Australia took the honours in the final session, the first two were dominated against by Sri Lanka with vice-captain Dinesh Chandimal producing a workmanlike century to carry his team to a respectable first innings total of 355.

Chandimal’s seventh Test hundred and his first against Australia coupled with that of Dhananjaya de Silva’s knock of 129 saw Sri Lanka lift themselves off the floor from a lowly 26-5 courtesy of a record sixth wicket partnership of 211 between the two centurions.

De Silva captured the headlines on the opening day with his maiden Test century, and yesterday it was the turn of Chandimal who displayed great resolve to play a responsible innings for his team.

Chandimal played second fiddle to De Silva in the big partnership but after his partner was dismissed in the 14th over of the morning for 129 after hitting 18 fours off 280 balls, he took control of the innings to reach his century which he celebrated with an eruption of emotion leaping in the air and punching it. It was the first time in 82 years that numbers six and seven had made centuries in a Test, the last occasion being England pair Maurice Leyland and Les Ames against Australia at Lord’s in 1934.

Chandimal carried the fight to the Aussies bowlers and after De Silva’s departure at 237, figured in valuable partnerships with the tail to further frustrate the opposition.

The most crucial of those stands was with Rangana Herath who went onto play another gutty knock of 33 in a stand of 73 for the eighth wicket before he was forced to retire hurt after being hit a painful blow on his groin by Jos Hazlewood.

Herath did not take the field in the few minutes Australia batted before the tea break but recovered sufficiently to resume bowling in the final session without showing any discomfort. Chandimal after his eight-hour batting marathon suffered from dehydration and although he took the field did not keep wickets – Kusal Perera taking over that role.

Mitchell Starc, Australia’s star fast bowler cleaned up the Lankan tail to finish with his third consecutive five-for in the series that took his tally of wickets to 22, more than any bowler in the series.

Australian captain Steve Smith had a horrible day on the field dropping Chandimal at 100 off the luckless Jon Holland and Herath at 28 off Mitch Marsh – both chances going abegging at slip, but later compensated to some extent with the bat. Sri Lanka leads the three-match series 2-0.

“We’ve been outplayed in both Test matches and the moods not great at the moment. Guys are a bit down at the moment and fair enough to it’s been a tough series so far,” said Smith reflecting on his team’s 229-run defeat inside three days at Galle International Stadium on Saturday. “Bit disappointed but we got plenty to play for in Colombo (SSC). We got to try and prove to ourselves and the public that we can play in these conditions.”

What has troubled the Australian batsmen most is the ball skidding off the surface and the one that spins away from the bat.
Australia’s stand out bowler in the series Mitchell Starc.

“They got some quality bowlers in their team, they do get the ball to skid and spin sharply as well. When the ball does spin sharply it sort of plays on your mind that you might just play outside it. We haven’t been good enough with it we have to find ways to make sure that we are covering the ball that doesn’t spin, the majority of the time if it spins, it spins too far,” explained Smith. “We just have to forget about playing the ball before essentially, and play the ball as it comes if it does spin it spins past the stumps.

“It’s sort of instinct all the guys growing up in Australia the majority of wickets we play on, they are pretty true they don’t often see too many spinning past the bat or the one that does go straight. It sort of doesn’t speed up off the wicket as such so certainly it’s a lot easier to play spin in Australia. We have to find ways to do it differently here,” he said.

“The guys have learnt a little bit from the way the Lankan batters play. We saw a lot of sweep shots from them reverse sweeps, the guys have learnt a little bit and have their own plans and have the courage to implement the plans in the middle. It’s never easy when the ball is spinning and skidding. We don’t know which one is which, with guys around the bat it’s difficult, you’ve got to have the courage to find a way to do it.”

It’s not only with their batting that Smith has concerns but also with his spinners who have failed to show the same success as the Lankan trundlers.

“They didn’t get many wickets did they? We need to find ways to bowl differently to how we bowl our spin in Australia,” said Smith. “You look at the Sri Lankan spinners or any of the subcontinent spinners they bowl that sort of side seam on the ball where they can go up and down with their speeds and trajectory and the ball reacts differently – one ball goes straight on and speeds up off the wicket, one ball spins and you don’t know which ones. I don’t think the bowlers actually know which one is which either. “In Australia traditionally you are taught to get on top of the ball and you need that shape to try and do the batsman in, drift and shape in the air whereas it’s exactly the opposite playing in the subcontinent. The ones with the side seam are extremely hard to face and our spin bowlers need to continue working on that. It’s bowling a completely different way to bowling in Australia.

“It’s about time our spinners finding a way to bowl a bit better in these conditions. The shape has to change the way the ball comes out of the hand instead of going on top of the ball go around the ball, things like that to try and deceive the batsmen more off the pitch than in the air in these conditions,” he said.

“To be fair all of the fast bowlers did a pretty good job for us in this game. But to be fair it should not be them taking the wickets but it should be our spinners getting the job done. Jon Holland in his first test is obviously going to be nervous, you can excuse that a little bit but the spinners have to find a way to get wickets and keep the runs dry on these surfaces. We have gone over four an over for both Test matches.”

Smith was full of praise for his fast bowler Mitchell Starc who has bowled exceptionally well on spin oriented pitches to capture 17 wickets which is the most by any bowler on either side so far.

“Mitchell’s been outstanding yesterday (Friday) after a very short break basically bowled for two days and never once did he say that he needed a break, He wanted to bowl more and more,” said Smith. “He’s certainly toughened up a lot as an Australian fast bowler he is doing a terrific job at the moment. When the ball is reverse swinging he is incredibly hard to face. He is continuing to improve every day which is a great sign for Australia.”

The upcoming three-Test series against Sri Lanka is no different. For already Mitchell Starc, who will spearhead the Australian bowling line-up in the three-Test series beginning at Pallekele on Tuesday has spoken of targeting Angelo Mathews, the Sri Lanka captain.

In a team that is under transition and short of experience Mathews is the stand-out batsman for Sri Lanka in the Test series with 4140 runs at an average of 48.70 and seven centuries. He is the best by way of figures or otherwise for the nearest batsman to him in the team is his deputy Dinesh Chandimal with 2007 (avg. 44.50) and six Test hundreds.

So it’s no surprise that getting Mathews’ wicket would be a crucial factor in Australia’s campaign to win the Test series. Former West Indies fast bowler Michael Holding when asked whom the all-conquering West Indies side led by Clive Lloyd would target during a series he came out with the answer that it was the opposing captain.

Holding explained that if the captain’s wicket is taken cheaply he will be worried more about his batting form and place in the team rather than worry about the opposition for which he will have less time.

Australian teams seem to have adhered to this belief that a sure way to unsettle a rival is to heap pressure on their captain. So Starc targeting Mathews is nothing new.

“It would be (a big wicket) and look, he’s under pressure,” Starc told Cricket Australia. “He’d be under pressure after the English tour and as a captain he’ll have to go through that pressure and perform as well. And that’s something that Steve (Smith, Australia’s Test captain) for us does really well.

“He’s been fantastic as a captain and performed from the front as well, so no doubt we’ll put a lot of pressure on Angelo to firstly perform and for him he’s got to lead as captain.

“He’ll be a big wicket for us along with (vice-captain Dinesh) Chandimal, and, for their bowlers, (veteran left-arm spinner Rangana) Herath is the most experienced and one that we’ll try and counter.”

In the bowling line-up Sri Lanka will bank heavily on Herath’s experience of playing in 70 Tests and capturing over 300 wickets in the absence of regular bowlers Dhammika Prasad and Dushmantha Chameera who are both injured.

In the batting Australia is top heavy with vice-captain David Warner and captain Steve Smith scoring a total of 30 Test hundreds between them and the rest Adam Voges, Shaun Marsh and Usman Khawaja accounting for a dozen centuries.

What Sri Lanka can come up with is a total of 18 Test centuries from their four top batsmen Mathews, Chandimal and openers Dimuth Karunaratne and Kaushal Silva. Although Australia doesn’t have a bowler of Herath’s class in their line-up but nevertheless have some outstanding match winners in off-spinner Nathan Lyon who is the leading wicket-taker in the side with 195 wickets and new ball bowlers Mitchell Starc with 91 and Jos Hazelwood with 70.

A lot depends on how the Lankan openers tackle the Australian new ball attack of Starc, Hazlewood and Jackson Bird and see them off so that the middle order can play their natural game. In England, the Sri Lankan top order was swept away by Anderson, Broad and Finn in the first three innings of the series before they managed to resurrect themselves and come up with challenging totals.

Karunaratne and Silva put on a century opening stand in the third and final Test at Lord’s and Sri Lanka will be hoping they will be able to extend that run to the Australian series as well.

Starc, who has had trouble with his right ankle stemming back to the Ashes series in England this year, suffered a stress fracture of the same foot in the day-night third Test against New Zealand in Adelaide late last month. It has now been decided he needs ankle surgery meaning Starc will miss the remainder of the Australian season. “After discussions with specialists, and in consultation with Mitchell, we believe the best course of action would be for Mitchell to have the surgery for his ankle impingement now while he is currently laid off with the stress fracture in his foot,” CA physiotherapist David Beakley said in a statement.

“His return to play time frames will be clearer once the surgery is complete but it is unlikely that he will be available for the ICC World T20.”

Left-armer Starc, 25, is Australia’s leading strike bowler and has taken 91 wickets in 25 Tests at 30.58. AFP