The Australian Cricket team has been defeated by Sri Lanka in the first T20 match played at Sydney. Sri Lanka won the match by 5 wickets. With this victory, Sri Lanka has taken a lead of 1-0 in the 2-match T20 series.
The match was pretty much one-sided. Sri Lanka looked a better team in the match and after stopping Australia to a modest total, the Sri Lankan batsmen chased down the target quite comfortably with 7 balls still to be bowled.
It was the Australian skipper, George Bailey, who won the toss and decided that his team would bat first. Australia wasn’t off to a flyer. Sri Lanka got the first breakthrough in the second over. Aaron Finch was the first man to be dismissed. He tried to play the ball towards leg side, but, he closed the face of the bat early and ended up giving it a leading edge. The ball popped up in the air and Kushal Perera took a brilliant diving catch in the covers.
Shaun Marsh ran himself out when the score of Australia was 31. George Bailey came to bat at no. 4 and he was hitting the ball well, but, he was deceived by a slower delivery from Thisara Perera. Australia was not in a good position at 53 for 3, but, after that, David Warner and Adam Voges put up a fine partnership. At first, they put their heads down and knocked the ball around for some time. But, when the score got past 100, they opened their shoulders and played some powerful shots.
At the end of 20 overs, the score of Australia was 137 runs for the loss of 3 wickets.
In reply, Sri Lanka started well and the opening pair put up a partnership of 46 runs. Although, the Sri Lankan team lost a few quick wickets in the middle, but, that didn’t matter much. The skipper Angelo Mathews and Thisara Perera played sensibly towards the end and saw their team home. Mathews and Perera remained not out on 35 and 19 respectively.
David Warner was declared man of the match for his great knock.