SL vs Australia 1st ODI: Maxwell’s blazing half-century helps visitors win first match
Fifties from Glenn Maxwell and Steve Smith helped Australia beat Sri Lanka by two wickets to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series in the rain-hit first one-day international on Tuesday. Chasing an adjusted Duckworth-Lewis-Stern target after a brilliant unbeaten 86 by Kusal Mendis took the hosts to 300/7 before rain in 44 overs, Australia with nine balls to spare and Maxwell 80 off 51 balls remained unbeaten. ,
He got off to a poor start after falling for an opening duck from David Warner, but captain Aaron Finch stabilized the ship with 44 and Smith returned for 53 before being cast by Dunith Velalez as Australia 141/4. reached at.
He recovered from that blow but Marcus Stoinis was bowled for 44 by Wanindu Hasaranga, who also removed Alex Carey and Pat Cummins to finish with figures of 4-58 to give his team a chance. However, Maxwell chased to perfection and finished the job with two sixes off Dushmantha Chameera.
Maxwell completes his fifty with an incredible switch hit at short third man! #SLvAUS pic.twitter.com/4xbrVl4FuJ – cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) June 14, 2022
Earlier, Sri Lanka opted to bat first on the difficult Pallekele wicket and both Danushka Gunathilaka and Pathum Nisanka reached half-centuries before giving success to the touring side in the 20th over. A swift throw from the striker’s end by Stoinis resulted in Gunathilaka’s dismissal for 55 and he was soon joined in the pavilion by Nissenka (56), who overturned Ashton Agar at the hands of Finch.
Agar then got rid of Dhananjaya de Silva, who was caught brilliantly by Warner, before Mendis took over to settle the Sri Lankan nerves in the company of Charit Aslanka (37). Marnus Labuschagne struck twice to stop Sri Lanka’s lower order, but Hasaranga scored 37 off 19 balls, including five fours by Jhye Richardson in the 49th over, to raise the score.
Australia, which won the three-match T20 series 2-1, will also play two Test matches in Sri Lanka.
Brief Scores: Sri Lanka 300/7 (Kusal Mendis No. 86, Pathum Nissenka 56, Danushka Gunathilaka 55; Marnus Labuschagne 2/19, Ashton Agar 2/49) lost to Australia 282/8 in 42.3 overs (Glenn Maxwell No. 80, Steve Smith 53, Wanindu Hasaranga 4/58) via DLS method
(with Reuters inputs)