Lucknow: Leg-spinner AdamZamparoared back to form with afour-wickethaulasAustraliabowledoutSriLankafor209in the World Cup here on Monday.
Anout-of-form Kusal Perera (78) got some much-needed runs while Pathum Nissanka struck 61forhis second consecutive fifty.
Australiabenefitted from the timely return to form ofZampa, who had been having an awful tournament. The wrist spinner enjoyed an excellent outing to help bundleoutSriLankain 43.3 overs.
Looking on coursefora 300-plus score, the 1996 winners faced a bizarre batting collapse and went from 125forno loss to209allout.
There were lots going on in the fieldasMitchell Starc aborted his delivery stride thrice to warn Perera to not leave his crease early on at the non-striker’s end.
Perera was also struck in the head by a Marcus Stoinis bouncer which caught theSriLankan off guard.
But the experienced southpaw didn’t let the blow deter him and went on to send Stonis’ slower cutter down the ground to bring up his fifty.
With both openers pilling on the runs, the Australian bowlers looked clueless. But skipper Pat Cummins kept shuffling his bowlers in search of that first breakthrough.
Cummins, who has been far from his best with the ball, stood up at the opportune moment to giveAustraliathe breakthrough they needed.
Cummins cramped Nissankaforroom and theSriLankan hit it high and in front of square onlyforDavid Warner to run and complete a stunning catch.
Cumminsbowleda peach of a delivery five overs later to clean up the other set batter in Perera, who picked the wrong line to swing his bat.
The dismissal marked the beginning ofAustralia’s dominanceastheSriLankabatting unravelled and the five-time champions grew in confidence.
Zampagot rid of the in-form Kusal Mendis. But thewicketbelonged to Warner who ran across from deep midwicket, covering about 25ms to complete a spectacular diving catch.
Sadeera Samarawickrama, Chamika Karunaratne and Maheesh Theekshana wereZampa’s other victims with Mitchell Starc pitching in with twowickets.
Apart from the openers and Charith Asalanka’s 25, no otherSriLankan batter reached double digits.
(Published 16 October 2023, 13:23 IST)