There is just the one match in the T20 World Cup on Tuesday and it comes from Perth where the tournament hosts Australia take on Sri Lanka in what could be a defining match in the Super 12 Group 1 section.
Australia were well beaten in their opening match and because of that they know a second defeat will end their title defence before it has started. Sri Lanka were winners in their opening match and another here will have them in good shape.
Australia
If ever there was a book on how not to begin a title defence then Australia gave a picture perfect display of it in their opening match against New Zealand. They were awful. Sometimes a team can lose but you can find some positives in their performance either with the bat or the ball. That wasn’t the case in the Australia opener and because of the margin of victory they are now in a situation where even four wins on the spin may not be enough if they don’t repair the damage to their net run rate.
The one thing Australia are going to have to do is use their heads more. They have players on the sidelines who can come in but whether they make them a stronger side remains to be seen. I think we can expect their bowlers to go much better in this match because the fast and bouncy conditions in Perth should really suit and also if they did need a run they’ve had it. They will need to make sure their batters are a whole lot better too.
Sri Lanka
After completely messing up their own first match in this tournament, Sri Lanka now head into this one with three wins on the spin to their name. Wins over UAE and the Netherlands probably didn’t tell us much but we saw a lot more of the side which won the Asia Cup when they beat Ireland in their opening game of this stage of the competition. The win was wrapped up early enough for their net run rate to be extremely positive so a second win here as them in excellent shape.
The Sri Lankans have had to battle a load of injuries in the early stages of this tournament so they deserve a lot of credit for not feeling sorry for themselves and continuing to battle hard. Winning the Asia Cup has clearly given them a lot of confidence and in some ways they have a free hit here, although they will know if they knock the Australians off they won’t just do their own chances the world of good but they will kill a rival for a semi-final spot. They will need to bat well to win this one.
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Team News
There has been no talk of Australia changing their side but they must be tempted to try and get Cameron Green into their side. They looked really good with him in against India and West Indies in series prior to this tournament beginning.
Sri Lanka are expected to welcome back one of their star players in Pathum Nissanka. He will replace Ashen Bandara but it remains to be seen who is available from within their bowling fraternity ahead of this match.
Betting
I’ll go with a couple of bets for this game. The first one is on Australia to hit over 6.5 sixes. Australia head into this match knowing that just a win is no longer good enough, such was the margin of their defeat in their first game in the tournament. They have to win out from here and win big in the process. In order to win big they have to have a good go with the bat. If they are chasing a small total they have the chance to launch a few big hits and sort their run rate out and if they are batting first they need to go big for the opportunity to do it. The straight boundaries in Perth are tiny so they have the ground dimensions to get some big hits off and so I like the over on this line.
I also like the Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka to be the top scorer for his side. He has already top scored for Sri Lanka in this tournament. That came against Namibia and I don’t think anyone will dispute the fact that the Australia bowling attack is a good deal better than the Namibian one so there is every chance that Shanaka gets in with the top score still in reach. If he does then he has every chance here. These two sides have played eight times in 2022 and while Shanaka has made four indifferent scores, he also has scores of 34, 39*, 35 and 54*. Those are the kind of scores that can top score so I’ll pay to see how he goes here.
Tips
Back Australia – Over 6.5 sixes for a 4/10 stake at 1.73 with William Hill
Back them here:
Back D.Shanaka Top Sri Lanka Batter for a 1/10 stake at 13.00 with Coral
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