Sri Lanka tour of Australia: Preview of the only T20
Australia and Sri Lanka are all set to face off each other in the only T20 tomorrow at WACA. While the tourists will be eyeing upon the next year’s ICC World Cup, Australian players will try to forget about next month’s Ashes for the time being to regain
a bit of its pride lost against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750.
Having lost their past three T20s, three Tests, and one one-day, the men from down under are facing the crisis that they have never even thought of. They have recently comeback from the subcontinent with an embarrassing mauling in their bags. And now T20
and three One Day Internationals against Sri Lanka have been fit in to shine some light on the start of the Australian summer.
Rarely a match has something to do in the long term but both the outfits have got number of players trying to prove themselves worthy of more international cricket. Performances of Australia’s T20 captain Michael Clarke always comes under scrutiny in this
format of game, with his vivacious captaincy sitting next to his extremely cautious batting. If Australia's trio of Ws – http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Clarke-c51120 goes away with his batting.
Cameron White opined that the Lankans should not be taken lightly. "They've got a pretty good team, a very good team, not to be taken lightly,'' he said.
Sri Lanka, after two comfortable tour games against Queensland Bulls and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Queensland-c834 last
week with whirlwind century while Mahela Jayawardene and off-spinner Suraj Randiv performed well against Blues on Wednesday.
This will be the last chance for the Aussies to see http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Muttiah-Muralitharan-c78157 at home before the legendry spinner retires from the ODI cricket as well after 2011 World Cup – Murali retired from Test cricket in July this year. This would definitely be a relief
for the Australian batsmen.
"He has nothing to prove to anyone right now. The last year or so I think we've seen a different Murali, more relaxed, I reckon, especially in the dressing room,” said Sri Lankan opener Mahela Jayawardene.
With 16 men in the squad, Lankans have a lot to choose from. Whether Randiv makes tomorrow’s playing XI for Sri Lanka will depend on the track, but the tourists do have the options in the form of Tillakaratne Dilshan or Jeevan Mendis.
Dirk Nannes, having played 14 T20s for Australia, will be leading the Australian attack Clint McKay, John Hastings and Peter Siddle are his possible support partners. Of these three, only Siddle holds a T20 experience – though only appeared in only one game.
The left-arm spinner Steve O'Keefe, who had made his debut against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 in July, will be looking for his second T20 appearance.
Perth’s famous speed and bounce combination has not happened a lot recently. A springy WACA track will aid the home attack, though visitor’s Lasith Malinga might also have some fun. A sunny day with a maximum of 29 degree Celsius has been forecasted.
So far http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 have played three T20Is with the former winning two of those. Sri Lanka has defeated Australia on Australian soil eight times in all formats, but have never won a series. This time Kumar Sangakkara is pretty hopeful to seal
the series making Murali’s last tour to Australia memorable for him.
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