A remarkable bowling performance from leg spinner Adam Zampa helped Australia open their account in the ongoing ODI World Cup as the five-time ODI World Champions defeated Sri Lanka by five wickets at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on Monday, October 16.
Zampa recorded his best World Cup spell and bagged a four-fer to help his side restrict the Lankan Lions to just 209 runs. The target seemed way below par considering the nature of the wicket but it didn’t transpire that way as Australia survived an early scare to win the contest at the end.
The Aussies lost opener David Warner and their number three batter Steve Smith inside their first four overs and were in a spot of bother before a crucial 57-run stand between Mitchell Marsh and Marnus Labuschagne turned the tide in their favour. Marsh was looking in a terrific touch before a misjudged run brought an end to his stay in the middle. He scored 52 off just 51 balls, including nine fours and aggregated his runs at a strike rate of 101.96.
Labuschagne looked unfazed despite losing his partner and anchored Australia’s really well. He was undone at an individual score of 40 by Dilshan Madushanka who bowled exceptionally well in the game to claim three (David Warner, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne) Aussie wickets.
Wicketkeeper-batter Josh Inglis was the other star of the Aussie run chase. He scored a match-winning fifty and amassed 58 off 59 balls at a strike rate of 98.30. Inglis got out with Australia within touching distance of the target and the pair of Glenn Maxwell (31* off 21 balls) and Marcus Stoinis (20* off 10 balls) got them through at the end.
Earlier in the day, the toss fell in favour of Sri Lanka and they decided to bat first. They got off to a remarkable start as the opening duo of Pathum Nissanka (61 off 67 balls) and Kusal Perera (78 off 82 balls) added 125 runs for the first wicket. However, the Sri Lankan batting order fell like a pack of cards after the dismissals of Nissanka and Perera and only Charith Asalanka managed to reach the double digits.