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Ailing Australia seek respite in ODIs
- Updated: August 20, 2016
Match facts
August 21, 2016 Start time 2.30pm local (0900GMT)
Big Picture
If ODIs and Tests occurred in parallel universes, Australia might be the pre-series favourites. They have been generally good in this format this year, defeating India 4-1 at home, and winning four out of seven completed matches in the Caribbean to claim that tri-series – though there was a series loss in New Zealand. Sri Lanka, meanwhile, have been uniformly terrible – their top order has been unsteady and a toothless attack has gummed its way around the planet. In the field, Sri Lanka have sometimes seemed more interested with dating the ball than collecting it; they’ve approached it tentatively, caressed it lovingly towards the boundary, then escorted it gallantly to the rope.
But Tests and ODIs are played in the selfsame universe, so the business of picking a favourite becomes more difficult. On the one hand, some of Australia’s batsmen have been so traumatised in the Tests, they are likely to struggle with spin in ODIs as well. Yet, on the other hand, it is Rangana Herath who had them breaking out in cold sweats in the dressing room, and they will not have to face him in the shorter formats.
Where Sri Lanka may have a minor edge is in the confidence of a dynamic top order. Every batsman in the likely top seven has a broad range of strokes, and the batting has rarely been weak in home one-day series. But the bowling is short of experience. Seekkuge Prasanna, Suranga Lakmal, Nuwan Pradeep, Dilruwan Perera, Lakshan Sandakan and Amila Aponso have played fewer than 100 ODIs between them.
Australia will also know that while Sri Lanka cannot field their best player of the Test series, their own spearhead is …
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