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Australia picked up their first win of the ICC World Cup, beating Sri Lanka by five wickets at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow on Monday. This was Australia’s first win in three matches in the World Cup while Sri Lanka continue to remain winless.
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Sri Lanka looked to be in control at the top of the order with Pathum Nissanka scoring 61 runs and the pair of Kusal Perera and Kusal Mendis had taken them to 157/1 in the 27th over.
Then, Pat Cummins, who had been under pressure, got the breakthrough to send Perera back for his second wicket. That opened the floodgates with Sri Lanka collpasing in the same manner Pakistan had against India. If Pakistan conceded eight wickets for 36 runs, Sri Lanka came crashing down with nine wickets in 52 runs.
One after another a batter would enter and fail to create an impact, Mendis’ stay was halted when he was on 78 runs and Sri Lanka on 165/2. Thereafter, only Charith Asalanka provided any meangingly resistance with none of the other batters reaching double digits. There was no real challenge to Australia’s dominance either: only two boundaries and one six was hit after Mendis left the middle.
In reply, Mitchell Marsh and wicketkeeper Josh Inglis struck half centuries as Australia got to the target with more than 14 overs to spare.
At the heart of Sri Lanka’s collapse was Adam Zampa. After a slow start to the tournament, Zampa was in sublime form picking four wickets and ripping the islanders’ batting to shreds. Kusal Mendis, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Chamika Karunaratne and Maheesh Theekshana all became his victims.
The 4/47 in eight overs is Zampa’s best at a World Cup and turns around a horror show in ODIs recently. Against South Africa, in the series preceding the World Cup, Zampa equalled the all-time record for worst ODI bowling figures when he leaked a jaw-dropping 113 runs. In the last eight ODIs, he took seven wickets but it came at an average of 61.42 and economy of 7.41.
The story seemed to be going in the same direction after three overs in Lucknow. Zampa was struggling to find his line and consistency was proving to be a challenge.
“His line and his length have just been so inconsistent from what we’re used to,” former Australian captain Aaron Finch said in commentary.
The turnaround came in the 28th over when Zampa returned to attack. He removed Mendis and Samarawickrama on consecutive deliveries to initiate the collapse.
“He stands up so often for Australia when they need him most,” Finch said in a change in tune during the innings break.
“He hasn’t been at his best, he would admit that, throughout the start of this tournament.
“But sometimes it just takes one wicket, one delivery … from there on, he was back to his absolute best, bowling straight, bowling a good length, mixing his pace.”
Zampa conceded he hasn’t been at his best when picking up the Player of the Match award.
“Particularly last game (vs South Africa), I could have bowled a little bit better,” Zampa said.
“My role’s to take wickets, and I haven’t been doing that … I feel like I could be doing better.
“It’s nice to be on the better end of the result today.”
However, Aussies will sweat on his fitness and availability when they go up against Pakistan on Friday. Zampa pulled up after Sri Lanka’s innings and acknowledged the back is a bit of an issue.
“I’ve been sporting a bit of a back spasm for the last couple of days,” he said.
“Tried to get through this one … my back was pretty sore.”
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