Sri Lanka secure a berth in Super Eight

Opener Pathum Nissanka on Monday turned a tricky chase into a walk in the park, his belligerent 52-ball 100 powering Sri Lanka to an eight-wicket win over Australia and securing their place in the Super Eights here. Set a record target of 182 at this venue, Sri Lanka rode on Nissanka’s unbeaten knock and Kusal Mendis’s 38-ball 51 to complete the task in 18 overs and leave Australia’s qualification hopes hanging by a thread.

Pavan Rathnayake remained not out on 28 off 15 balls. Nissanka smashed 10 fours and five sixes during his match-winning knock. Australia will now need to win by a massive margin against Oman in their final match and rely on both Sri Lanka and Ireland to beat Zimbabwe to have any sort of outside chance whatsoever. In fact if Zimbabwe manage to beat Ireland on Thursday, then Australia will be knocked out even before meeting Oman in their last group league game.

Earlier, Mitchell Marsh and Travis Head blazed away to explosive fifties before Sri Lanka rallied to bowl out Australia for 181. Coming back into the playing XI after missing the team’s first two matches of the tournament due to an injury, Marsh got into the act straightaway, clobbering 54 in 27 balls. Head was equally brutal during his 29-ball 56, as the opening duo added 104 runs in less than nine overs to set Australia up for a 200-plus total.

But the Sri Lankans did much better in the back 10, with leg-spinner Dushan Hemantha (3/37 in 4 overs) emerging as the most successful bowler for the home team. The last four wickets fell for only six runs. In the chase, Sri Lanka copped an early blow when Kusal Perera failed to connect properly with a Marcus Stoinis ball and ended up slicing it to the deep backward point fielder.

The packed stands at the Pallekele International Stadium went quiet, but the duo of Nissanka and Mendis had other ideas as they added 97 runs for the second wicket to keep Sri Lanka ahead at the halfway stage of their innings. With 89 needed from 60 balls and with nine wickets in hand, Sri Lanka fancied their chances of overhauling the target. But Stoinis struck again, as Kusal Mendis hit one straight to the fielder at deep mid-wicket to give Australia an opening. However, there was no stopping Nissanka..

Earlier, the move to field first backfired on the Sri Lankans as Australia got off to a rollicking start with Marsh and Head marking their reunion with a flurry of fours and sixes. Following their 23-run defeat to Zimbabwe, Australia began the game in earnest, collecting as many as 16 runs in the very first over by Dushmantha Chameera. Marsh started his innings in great style as he punched one beautifully off the back foot through the off-side.

Head clipped a Chameera half-volley off his pads to get off the mark with a four before Marsh pulled the pacer for a six over midwicket. Head got two fours against Maheesh Theekshana to maintain the momentum. If the early onslaught by Head and Marsh was not enough, Sri Lanka suffered a massive blow in the third over when Matheesha Pathirana, the 23-year-old slinger, hobbled off the field after suffering a hamstring injury, leaving Dasun Shanaka to complete the over.

Shanaka was whacked through point for a boundary by Head in his first ball, and then the left-handed power-hitter clobbered the bowler over deep square leg and into the stands for a big maximum. Marsh smashed Maheesh Theekshana for five successive boundaries as Australia raced to 70 for no loss in the power play.

Hoping to arrest the free flow of runs, skipper Shanaka introduced leg-spinner Dushan Hemantha into the attack, and Head welcomed him with a six and a four, and in the next over, Marsh plonked left-arm spinner Dunith Wellalage for a four and a maximum. Marsh brought Australia’s hundred with a six off Hemantha. However, Australia lost a cluster of wickets thereafter and from 104 for no loss, they slipped to 130 for four and never recovered from that.

Glenn Maxwell made 22 of 15 balls before a leaping Pathum Nissanka made amends for an earlier drop catch by pulling off a diving stunner at point. Inglis, who got a life even before he opened his account, contributed a 22-ball 27, but the Australians ended well short of what was an expected total at the halfway stage.