Sri Lanka drew first blood in the T20 series against Australia on Friday and on Sunday they will go into the second T20 of the three in Geelong knowing a win will seal the series with a match to spare.
Australia won’t want the series to go with a whimper but they will have to win the match to set up a decider else this makeshift side will face a dead rubber to finish their stint in Australian colours with.
Australia
It looked like Australia had posted a decent total in the first match when a fast finish got them beyond 160 but they failed to restrain Sri Lanka when they bowled especially in the powerplay and although they took it down to the final ball you never once truly got the feeling that Australia would defend the total.
Clearly they need to bowl better up front but they could do with a better strategy early on as well. It was clear their seamers were getting carted especially Billy Stanlake so bowling spin to begin with could be a play especially with someone like Ashton Turner or Travis Head having done the job in the past for their Big Bash sides.
Sri Lanka
The Sri Lankans will be delighted with their performance in the opening match. They let Australia get away from them a little bit in the second half of their bowling innings but that is going to happen because they simply don’t have the firepower in these conditions to restrict sides consistently but having battled hard with the ball they were excellent with the bat.
Many judges criticised them for bowling first but the plan worked perfectly and really with the bat they always looked under control. All of a sudden they look to have found a very solid, and more importantly very capable, middle order who look composed under pressure and at home against real pace which bodes well.
Team News
Australia are likely to replace Billy Stanlake here. They could play Jyhe Richardson or they could bring a batsman like Ben Dunk in and ask Moises Henriques to bowl some overs. The latter appears most likely.
Sri Lanka are expected to be unchanged after such an excellent performance in the opening match of the series. That is assuming Lasith Malinga is fit for two matches in such quick succession.
Betting
I see no reason why Sri Lanka won’t win this match as well but having backed them to win the series before a ball was bowled I’m effectively on them to do that here so I won’t back them again but I certainly wouldn’t put anyone off who does want to.
One bet I do like though is for Niroshan Dickwella to outscore Upul Tharanga. The Sri Lankan captain has really struggled in this format since his return to the side. In fact he has struggled throughout in this format having only gone past 20 three times in 12 innings in his career.
That isn’t the case with Dickwella. He is flourishing at the minute and is hitting the ball as cleanly as anyone you’ve seen. He loves the pace on the ball and I think his array of shots will see him outscore Tharanga here.
Tips
WON – Back N.Dickwella to beat U.Tharanga for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
Back him here:
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