Key events
Australia need 282 to win
Sri Lanka learned the lessons of their false start in the first ODI and laid a solid platform for the strokemakers in the middle order. Kusal Mendis anchored the innings with 101, allowing Charith Asalanka (78 not out from 66 balls) and Janith Liyanage (32 not out from 21) to have some fun at the death.
It feels like Sri Lanka are favourites but Travis Head could change that in the space of a few overs. Jim Wallace will be here for the run-chase. see you soon.
50th over: Sri Lanka 281-4 (Asalanka 78, Liyanage 32) Sri Lanka end with a flourish, pillaging 17 from Hardie’s final over. Asalanka was dropped over the boundary for six by Short at wide long on, a bad miss that was compounded when Asalanka swiped the next ball down the ground for six more.
That’s an excellent effort from Sri Lanka, who went through the gears and hammered 85 from the last eight overs.
49th over: Sri Lanka 264-4 (Asalanka 64, Liyanage 31) Liyanage flashes Abbott over the two men on the edge of the circle and away for four. He then shapes to scoop, realises the ball is well wide of off stump and tries to reverse scoop instead. He can barely reach the ball – it would have been a wide had he missed it – and toe-ends it nowhere.
He makes up for it by cuffing six more down the ground. That aside it was a canny last over from Abbott, who finishes with figures of 10-0-41-1. Sri Lanka have scored 68 from the last seven overs.
48th over: Sri Lanka 254-4 (Asalanka 64, Liyanage 21) This is a cracking cameo from Liyanage, who works Dwarshuis off the hip for another boundary. Asalanka scoops the last ball of Dwarshuis’s spell for four to move to 64 from 61 balls.
Dwarshuis suffered a bit at the death but overall he bowled pretty well: 10-1-47-1.
47th over: Sri Lanka 242-4 (Asalanka 58, Liyanage 15) Liyanage opens the face to steer Abbott for four, the first boundary Abbott has conceded all day, and then picks him up over backards square for a mighty six. Shot!
Three overs to go.
46th over: Sri Lanka 230-4 (Asalanka 57, Liyanage 4) Asalanka turns a good over for Australia into a good one for Sri Lanka by heaving Dwarshuis’s last ball through midwicket for four. That was perfectly placed.
Fifty for Asalanka
45th over: Sri Lanka 223-4 (Asalanka 52, Liyanage 2) Asalanka fiddles a Zampa googly for three, a classy stroke that brings up a stylish fifty from 54 balls. He probably wishes this was a five-match series because he’s in sublime form.
Five overs to go. Sri Lanka are well on course for 250, which most of the commentary team think would be extremely competitive.
WICKET! Sri Lanka 215-4 (Kusal c Short b Zampa 101)
Kusal slog-sweeps Zampa straight to deep midwicket, where Short takes a comfortable head-high catch. That was a terrific knock on an awkward pitch: 101 from 115 balls with 11 fours.
Kusal Mendis’s fifth ODI hundred!
44th over: Sri Lanka 215-3 (Kusal 101, Asalanka 47) Kusal Mendis inside-edges Hardie for a single to reach a fine century from 113 balls. He’s playing second fiddle at the moment, despite reaching that milestone, and Asalanka pummels Hardie to the cover boundary to keep things moving. The last eight overs have gone for 63.
43rd over: Sri Lanka 205-3 (Kusal 99, Asalanka 41) Asalanka launches Sangha over extra cover for four to bring up Sri Lanka’s 200. A thick edge runs away for another boundary.
Kusal Mendis, on 99, faces only one delivery in the over. He can’t get it past mid-on so he’ll have to wait for his hundred.
42nd over: Sri Lanka 196-3 (Kusal 99, Asalanka 32) Kusal hooks Abbott for a single, one of five in the over, to move to 99. He was looking for two but Asalanka wisely said no.
Abbott has probably secured his Champions Trophy place with today’s performance: 8-0-19-1.
41st over: Sri Lanka 191-3 (Kusal 97, Asalanka 30) Sangha returns and beats Asalanka with a nice googly. Inglis whips off the bails and appeals for something and nothing; it missed the bat and Asalanka’s back foot went nowhere.
Kusal Mendis under-edges one slog sweep but carts the next through midwicket for four. He needs three more for his first ODI hundred gainst Australia.
40th over: Sri Lanka 184-3 (Kusal 92, Asalanka 28) Sean Abbott slows Sri Lanka down with another good over that yields four singles. He’s bowled seven overs without conceding a boundary.
39th over: Sri Lanka 180-3 (Kusal 90, Asalanka 26) Sri Lanka are on the charge. Kusal hits Hardie for successive boundaries, a slash past the keeper and an elegant chip over midwicket. A quick single takes him into the nineties; this is now his highest ODI score against the Aussies.
38th over: Sri Lanka 170-3 (Kusal 81, Asalanka 25) Kusal, who has struggled to time the ball in the last hour or so, drives Dwarshuis just over the leaping Head at mid-off. That’s his first boundary since the shot that brought up his fifty in the 22nd over.
Fraser-McGurk saves two with a terrific sprawling stop when Asalanka works Dwarshuis through square leg.
Sri Lanka have gone up a gear. After scoring 27 in nine overs, they’ve added 30 in the last five.
37th over: Sri Lanka 162-3 (Kusal 76, Asalanka 22) Asalanka is looking dangerous. He charges Zampa to smack an emphatic straight six, a signal that the charge is on. Zampa and Smith discuss an LBW review when Asalanka misses a whip across the line; they rightly decide against it.
There has been a bit of turn but overall the seamers have been much more effective.
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Seam 19-1-55-3
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Spin 18-0-105-0
36th over: Sri Lanka 152-3 (Kusal 75, Asalanka 14) Ben Dwarshuis, back in the attack, beats Kusal all ends up with a superb slower bouncer. Kusal swung so hard that he almost pulled a stomach muscle. A superb over from Dwarshuis concludes with a fuller delivery snaking past Kusal’s outside edge.
Drinks
35th over: Sri Lanka 150-3 (Kusal 74, Asalanka 13) Zampa is still hunting his first wicket of the series. Sri Lanka have played him well, with controlled aggression and good rotation of strike.
Two singles from that over, the last before the second drinks break. It feels like Sri Lanka are in a strong position, but the spinners have not had the expected impact. Yet.
34th over: Sri Lanka 148-3 (Kusal 73, Asalanka 12) There are a lot of one-over spells at the moment. Hardie returns and is belted straight four by Asalanka, the first boundary in 12 overs.
Eight from the over, Sri Lanka’s best for a while. These two could really hurt Australia if they get going.
33rd over: Sri Lanka 140-3 (Kusal 71, Asalanka 7) Adam Zampa, who still has six overs remaining, returns to the attack. Asalanka clouts a slog-sweep high towards cow corner, where the ball lands just in front of Maxwell running round the boundary. He slowed down briefly, conscious of Dwarshuis in his peripheral vision, and that probably Australia the wicket.
Six singles from the over.
32nd over: Sri Lanka 134-3 (Kusal 68, Asalanka 4) Hardie is replaced by Short after a one-over spell. It’s another over of singles and dot balls; Sri Lanka are building for an assault at the death but they need to be careful they don’t go down a blind alley.
31st over: Sri Lanka 131-3 (Kusal 66, Asalanka 3) Abbott took some tap from Asalanka in the first ODI, but so far today he has bowled with impressive accuracy. He has figures of 6-0-11-1 after another good over that ends with a short ball that zips from the pitch to hit Asalanka on the shoulder.
Sri Lanka have scored 18 for 2 in the last seven overs.
30th over: Sri Lanka 129-3 (Kusal 65, Asalanka 3) Maybe this pitch isn’t as awkward as we thought, certainly against the spinners: Australia’s have combined figures of 14-0-85-0.
Steve Smith is going with seam at both ends, bringing Aaron Hardie back into the attack. He has a biggish LBW debut turned down against Asalanka, who missed a flick across the line. It looked too high and Steve Smith decides against a review.
29th over: Sri Lanka 125-3 (Kusal 63, Asalanka 1) Not for the first time today, Abbott surprises the batter with a zippy bouncer that forces them to abort a planned hook shot; this time it was Kusal Mendis. Another fine over, just one from it.
28th over: Sri Lanka 124-3 (Kusal 62, Asalanka 1) Short replaces Maxwell. Inglis goes up for caught behind when Kusal misses a late cut; Australia decide against a review and replays show there was no edge.
Australia have pulled this back pretty well: the last six overs have produced 20 runs and two wickets.
27th over: Sri Lanka 121-3 (Kusal 60, Asalanka 0) The new batter is the captain Charith Asalanka, whose extraordinary century decided the first ODI.
WICKET! Sri Lanka 121-3 (Kamindu b Abbott 4)
Kamindu Mendis’s miserable trot continues when he drags the new bowler Sean Abbott back onto the stumps. He tried to drive a ball that came back into him from around the wicket; that usually spells trouble for a left-hander and this was no exception.
26th over: Sri Lanka 118-2 (Kusal 59, Kamindu 2) This is a chance for Australia to squeeze Sri Lanka. Kusal Mendis defends Maxwell into the ground, tries to knock the ball to Josh Inglis and almost hits it onto the stumps. I guess that would still have been out even though he was only trying to help the fielding side.
25th over: Sri Lanka 115-2 (Kusal 57, Kamindu 1) Kamindu Mendis is the new batter.
WICKET! Sri Lanka 113-2 (Madushka c Zampa b Dwarshuis 51)
Well bowled Ben Dwarshuis. He was brought back to take a wicket and has done just that. Madushka hooked a slower bouncer to long leg, where Zampa backpedalled to take a well-judged catch.
Zampa had to throw the ball up, knowing his momentum was going to take him over the boundary, but his brain, hands and feet were all in sync and Madushka is on his way.