The ODI series between Sri Lanka and Australia concludes on Friday when the two sides meet for the fifth and final time in Colombo ahead of the Test series which gets underway next week. This series has been a good watch and hopefully they have one more good match for us.
In terms of competitiveness there is nothing on this match though because Sri Lanka claimed the series with a dramatic win in the fourth game on Tuesday. That means they head into this last game 3-1 up.
Sri Lanka
The fourth game of the series was another one where Sri Lanka showed that slowly but surely they are getting more about themselves in this format of the game. They probably didn’t max out their batting innings after some pretty shoddy cricket in the last five overs or so meant they didn’t even bat out their overs, but they fought very hard in the field even when they looked dead and buried and eventually created an opening for themselves which they took full advantage of.
The best thing for Sri Lanka in the match though was how they held their nerve at the end of it. Teams who aren’t good at a format or aren’t used to winning find ways to lose but to their credit when they needed to stand up and deliver they did. They will know this is the beginning of a process so although the series is won this is another chance to continue to build what they are building and look to establish themselves more ahead of the World Cup next year.
Australia
This series hasn’t gone to plan for Australia and the longer it goes on the worse they seem to be getting. They were fortunate to get home in the opening game and then well beaten in the next two but they won’t need anyone to tell them that they should have levelled the series last time out. At one stage they needed 70 runs from 85 balls with a bunch of wickets in hand so to lose from there will not make them feel good about themselves.
The batting continues to be an issue for Australia, especially once they lose three or four wickets. There hasn’t been much in the pitches for the bowlers throughout the series, although I think it is fair to assume that they would have wanted more out of their spinners than what they have had. They will want to deliver a decent showing with the bat to take away from this tour with them but injuries have hit them hard.
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Team News
Danushka Gunathilaka could be back for Sri Lanka for this final game of the series and he would surely replace Niroshan Dickwella, who hasn’t really looked at the races. Dushmantha Chameera was ruled out of the series before the last game so the rest of the Sri Lankan side could be unchanged.
Australia have added Travis Head to their lengthy injury list which already included Mitchell Starc, Steve Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Ashton Agar and Kane Richardson. Josh Inglis is expected to replace Head for this final match.
Betting
I took Sri Lanka to win the last match and although they nearly gave me a heart attack in that final over I’m more than happy to take them again here. Australia are starting to get very stretched personnel wise now and that can’t possibly be good. They were already going to be up against it in these conditions anyway so the last thing they needed was this insanely long injury list that has developed as the tour has gone on.
You would have to say this Australia outfit looks fairly light now and conditions are only going to get harder to bat on here with spin taking priority for this final match of the series. Sri Lanka have just shown they can go in with four front line spinners and come out on top but more importantly they have negated pretty much all of the three spin options Australia have gone to in this series. This match more than any other should see conditions suiting the home side and at 6/4 they are the bet here.
Tips
Back Sri Lanka to beat Australia for a 3/10 stake at 2.50 with Bet365
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