Key events
19th over: Sri Lanka 89-5 (Silva 27, Sanjeewani 16) Sublime from Ash Gardner who finishes the penultimate over and ends with parsimonious figures of 1-14 from her four overs. One over to go, Megan Schutt is going to bowl it.
18th over: Sri Lanka 84-5 (Silva 26, Sanjeewani 13) That’s more like it! Sanjeewani has provided a real shot in the arm for the Sri Lanka run rate since arriving in the middle, she gets on the front foot and lifts Wareham over the top for a lovely boundary. Two overs to go, can they post three figures? It still won’t be enough, of that I’ll bet my non existent garden shed.
17th over: Sri Lanka 77-5 (Silva 25, Sanjeewani 7) Sutherland returns and six runs are taken off the over as Sri Lanka dream of making three figures. This innings has been a hard watch… and I’m being paid.
16th over: Sri Lanka 71-5 (Silva 21, Sanjeewani 6) Anushka Sanjeewani is the new batter and has an immediate impact by hitting the first boundary for Sri Lanka in over eight overs! Wareham drifts onto the leg side and is flicked away fine for a more than welcome Sri Lankan boundary.
WICKET! Perera c Gardner b Wareham 2 (Sri Lanka 65-5)
Gah! A full toss from Wareham is smeared out to the leg side boundary where Ash Gardner pulls off a nifty catch. Sri Lanka lose another and are in the mire.
15th over: Sri Lanka 65-4 (Silva 21, Perera 2) Sophie Molineux has been very impressive so far in her three overs, she has 2-13 so far and has vindicated the selectors decision to go for her over the vastly experienced Jess Jonassen for this tournament. Sri Lanka stutter onward.
14th over: Sri Lanka 61-4 (Silva 19, Perera 0) Wareham gets out of the over for the cost of five more runs to the total, Sri Lanka have only found the boundary on two occasions so far in this innings. That’s a damning stat indeed.
13th over: Sri Lanka 56-4 (Silva 14, Perera 0) Hasini Perera is the new batter, her side are in all sorts of bother here and looking down the barrel of a second straight defeat in this world cup campaign.
WICKET! Samarawickrama c & b Molineux 23 (Sri Lanka 56-4)
Gone! With no boundary found in six overs Samarawickrama tries to bunt a full ball from Molineux down the ground but doesn’t get it out of the screws, serving only to plink a return catch back to the bowler.
12th over: Sri Lanka 51-3 (Samarawickrama 20, Silva 12) My days – Darcie Brown has dropped an absolute goober at short extra cover! she won’t want to see the replay of that one. A slower ball from Sutherland was spooned up by Samarawickrama and Brown made a real mess of it, ending up on her knees with the ball barely even going anywhere near the hands. Beth Mooney gives her a conciliatory pat on the back – “rather you than me, pal”. Another maiden over for Australia – just a solitary leg-bye off the over in the end.
11th over: Sri Lanka 50-3 (Samarawickrama 20, Silva 12) Wareham continues after drinks, she’s worked around for singles and they won’t hurt the reigning champions at this stage. Is that a missed stumping chance? Wareham spears the ball in full and Samarawickrama ends up yorking herself on the charge, Healy can’t gather the ball cleanly though and the batter manages to get her back foot back in time. Australia are well on top but they haven’t been their usual slick outfit in the field so far.
Enjoyed this:
10th over: Sri Lanka 43-3 (Samarawickrama 20, Silva 7) We’re halfway through the overs in Sharjah and Sri Lanka have barely played a shot in anger. Time for a drink, let’s hope theres some fiery electrolytes in the brew being brought out to the batters in the middle.
9th over: Sri Lanka 40-3 (Samarawickrama 20, Silva 4) Signs of slow turn for Wareham. Sri Lanka’s batters are watchful and rotate the strike, picking up five runs off the over but it is nowhere near enough. Someone needs to take a risk and open the shoulders.
Oh jeez @Jimbo_Cricket, I had hopes for Sri Lanka today, at least with Chamari at the crease but this is a horrible start. Australia are just so good. Ash Gardner is so hard to get away on pitches like this. Amanda-Jade Wellington would get into any other side here. Such riches.
— Guy Hornsby (@GuyHornsby) October 5, 2024
8th over: Sri Lanka 35-3 (Samarawickrama 17, Silva 2) Crikey, some shot from Samarawickrama as she ‘sweeps’ Gardner down the ground for four runs. That was more like a Pete Sampras forehand on the end but they all count. Gardner raises her eyebrows and then heads back to her mark to make amends. Eight runs off the over. We’re going to have the first sighting of leg-spin – Georgia Wareham is tossed the ball.
7th over: Sri Lanka 27-3 (Samarawickrama 10, Silva 1) Nilakshika Silva comes to the middle with her side struggling to get any sort of footing in this match. Ash Gardner is coming back on too. Gulp.
WICKET! Kavisha Dilhari lbw b Molineux 5 (Sri Lanka 25-3)
And another one gone, another one bites the dust! Sophie Molineux summoned into the attack and is around the wicket with her left arm tweakers. A flighted delivery drops under the attempted sweep shot and three reds on DRS send Dilhari back to the sheds. Sri Lanka in all sorts of trouble in Sharjah.
6th over: Sri Lanka 23-2 (Dilhari 3, Samarawickrama 9) Australia have had a fine start but have also been extremely sloppy, Darcie Brown replaces Ash Gardner and cannot find her radar or run up! Two front foot no balls, in fact make that THREE front foot no balls committed by Brown. What is going on out there?! Samarawickrama slots the first freebie for four but can’t get anywhere near the next one as Brown spears down a wide.
This over is lasting an eternity. I’ve got at least three new wrinkles from squinting at the extras column…12 runs came off it in the end. ‘Over’ doing a lot of heavy lifting in this instance as TEN balls were sent down by Brown in total.
5th over: Sri Lanka 11-2 (Dilhari 3, Samarawickrama 2) Megan Schutt into her third over, she goes around the wicket to Samarawickrama who lines up a huge mow into the leg side but catches hold of nothing but fresh air. Just three runs off the over as Sri Lanka can’t seem to break the shackles and find the fence.
4th over: Sri Lanka 8-2 (Dilhari 1, Samarawickrama 1 ) Harshitha Samarawickrama joins Madhavi in the middle, Gardner tosses one up above the eyes but the new batter doesn’t take the bait. A single off the last ball gets Harsitha off the mark, Phoebe Litchfield guilty of diving over the ball in the covers.
WICKET! Chamari Athapaththu lbw b Gardner 3 (Sri Lanka 6-2)
HUGE WICKET! Gardner scuds one on off the surface, Chamari tries to slog sweep but misses it completely. Vociferous appeal from bowler and fielders but umpire Sue Redfern says not out! Hmmm this looks close to me and Gardner makes the T-sign to her captain right away. Sure enough it is knocking out middle stump! Sri Lanka lose their best batter and Australia all over them like a very inexpensive suit.
3rd over: Sri Lanka 6-1 (Athapaththu 3, Dilhari 0) Australia all over Sri Lanka here, pressure building, captain Chamari has faced ten balls for just three runs and Gunaratne faced the same amount for a duck. Here comes Ash Gardner once again…
WICKET! Gunaratne lbw b Schutt 0 (Sri Lanka 6-1)
Chamari glides past point to pick up the first runs off the bat. Same again the next ball, a compact shot from the Sri Lanka captain. Uh-oh – Schutt has committed the cardinal sin of overstepping with her front foot and thus gives away a free hit. She limits the damage with a well executed slower ball but she’s overstepped twice in a row! Schutt stomps back to her mark, she might need to call for the trundle wheel and mark out that run up once more… no damage inflicted as the next ball is a decent yorker.
Gone now! Schutt does not overstep and pins Gunaratne in front of middle – the DRS confirms the on field decision. Three reds and Australia have their first wicket.
2nd over: Sri Lanka 1-0 (Gunaratne 0, Athapaththu 0) Another maiden! Ash Gardner stitching together five dots and a solitary leg bye sees the scoreboard creak to life.
1st over: Sri Lanka 0-0 (Gunaratne 0, Athapaththu 0) A lesser spotted maiden over to begin with as Schutt keeps Gunaratne honest. Tight line and some movement in the air. Healy comes up to the stumps for the second half of the over too. Sri Lanka can’t afford too many overs like that, especially not in the powerplay.
Megan Schutt has the ball in hand. Captain Chamari and Gunarathne are opening up for Sri Lanka. Plenty of pressure on them after they lost to Pakistan in their first game, can they get their team off to a flier? Let’s find out – PLAY!
Shades and smears of zinc aplenty as the players head out for the anthems. Sri Lanka’s jaunty tune takes this every time for me. I’m allowed to say that as a completely impartial party. C’mon – that trilling piccolo can’t not put a spring in your step?
It’s a fresh pitch in Sharjah and the thoughts from the ground suggest it might skid on more than turn, especially to begin with. If dimension chat gets you going then cop a load of this – the longest boundary is the 73 metre one straight down the ground whilst the ones square are 57 and 63 metres respectively. I know, have a cold shower won’t you.
Teams: Phoebe Litchfield is back for Australia! Oh, and Ellyse Perry is playing in her NINTH T20 World Cup. Incredible.
Australia XI: Alyssa Healy (c & wk), Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Ashleigh Gardner, Phoebe Litchfield, Tahlia McGrath, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Wareham, Sophie Molineux, Megan Schutt, Darcie Brown
Sri Lanka XI: Vishmi Gunaratne, Chamari Athapaththu (c), Harshita Samarawickrama, Hasini Perera, Kavisha Dilhari, Nilakshika Silva, Hasini Perera, Anushka Sanjeewani (wk), Sugandika Kumari, Inoshi Priyadarshani, Udeshika Prabodhani, Inoka Ranaweera
Sri Lanka win the toss and will bat first
No surprises in the decision, getting a score on the board has very much been the trend in Sharjah, both matches played at the ground on Thursday were won by the team batting first.
Athapaththu says her team want to play fearless and exciting cricket. Healy is unperturbed by losing the toss, she says there is a calmness in their camp but delivers her words with a ruthless glint in the eye that suggests they are very much going to hit the ground running.
It looks a scorcher in Sharjah, sun beating down but a bit of a breeze blowing across the ground to provide some succour from the rays. The mercury is set to hit 36 degrees today, Australia have been getting their Scandi on as part of their preparations for this tournament, regular sauna sessions deployed in order to get them used to the potentially sweltering conditions.
Preamble
James Wallace
Hello and welcome to the latest chapter in Australian dominance in women’s world cricket… the T20 World Cup is underway in the UAE. Alyssa Healy’s side have bossed the format over the past decade with six titles on the green and gold shelf, a stellar batting and bowling line up make for a well oiled winning machine.
Today’s opponents are Sri Lanka, no strangers to silverware themselves after scooping the Asian Cup a few months ago, Chamari Athapaththu’s side will pose a decent threat today in Sharjah, albeit they’ve never beaten Australia in a T20, then again – not many sides have.
The tournament has already seen a shock result, over in Group A New Zealand skittled India yesterday in Dubai to run out winners by 58 runs. Will we see banana skins, steamrollering or something in between? There’s only one way to find out – play begins at 2pm local time/8pm AEST and 11am where I am in foggy old London town.
Send us your thoughts and theories in the usual way, I’ll be back for the toss and team news very shortly.
