Key events
5th over: Sri Lanka 11-2 (Dilhari 3, Samarawickrama 2) Megan Schutt into her third over, she goes around the wicket to Samarawickrama who lines up a huge mow into the leg side but catches hold of nothing but fresh air. Just three runs off the over as Sri Lanka can’t seem to break the shackles and find the fence.
4th over: Sri Lanka 8-2 (Dilhari 1, Samarawickrama 1 ) Harshitha Samarawickrama joins Madhavi in the middle, Gardner tosses one up above the eyes but the new batter doesn’t take the bait. A single off the last ball gets Harsitha off the mark, Phoebe Litchfield guilty of diving over the ball in the covers.
WICKET! Chamari Athapaththu lbw b Gardner 3 (Sri Lanka 6-2)
HUGE WICKET! Gardner scuds one on off the surface, Chamari tries to slog sweep but misses it completely. Vociferous appeal from bowler and fielders but umpire Sue Redfern says not out! Hmmm this looks close to me and Gardner makes the T-sign to her captain right away. Sure enough it is knocking out middle stump! Sri Lanka lose their best batter and Australia all over them like a very inexpensive suit.
3rd over: Sri Lanka 6-1 (Athapaththu 3, Dilhari 0) Australia all over Sri Lanka here, pressure building, captain Chamari has faced ten balls for just three runs and Gunaratne faced the same amount for a duck. Here comes Ash Gardner once again…
WICKET! Gunaratne lbw b Schutt 0 (Sri Lanka 6-1)
Chamari glides past point to pick up the first runs off the bat. Same again the next ball, a compact shot from the Sri Lanka captain. Uh-oh – Schutt has committed the cardinal sin of overstepping with her front foot and thus gives away a free hit. She limits the damage with a well executed slower ball but she’s overstepped twice in a row! Schutt stomps back to her mark, she might need to call for the trundle wheel and mark out that run up once more… no damage inflicted as the next ball is a decent yorker.
Gone now! Schutt does not overstep and pins Gunaratne in front of middle – the DRS confirms the on field decision. Three reds and Australia have their first wicket.
2nd over: Sri Lanka 1-0 (Gunaratne 0, Athapaththu 0) Another maiden! Ash Gardner stitching together five dots and a solitary leg bye sees the scoreboard creak to life.
1st over: Sri Lanka 0-0 (Gunaratne 0, Athapaththu 0) A lesser spotted maiden over to begin with as Schutt keeps Gunaratne honest. Tight line and some movement in the air. Healy comes up to the stumps for the second half of the over too. Sri Lanka can’t afford too many overs like that, especially not in the powerplay.
Megan Schutt has the ball in hand. Captain Chamari and Gunarathne are opening up for Sri Lanka. Plenty of pressure on them after they lost to Pakistan in their first game, can they get their team off to a flier? Let’s find out – PLAY!
Shades and smears of zinc aplenty as the players head out for the anthems. Sri Lanka’s jaunty tune takes this every time for me. I’m allowed to say that as a completely impartial party. C’mon – that trilling piccolo can’t not put a spring in your step?
It’s a fresh pitch in Sharjah and the thoughts from the ground suggest it might skid on more than turn, especially to begin with. If dimension chat gets you going then cop a load of this – the longest boundary is the 73 metre one straight down the ground whilst the ones square are 57 and 63 metres respectively. I know, have a cold shower won’t you.
Teams: Phoebe Litchfield is back for Australia! Oh, and Ellyse Perry is playing in her NINTH T20 World Cup. Incredible.
Australia XI: Alyssa Healy (c & wk), Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Ashleigh Gardner, Phoebe Litchfield, Tahlia McGrath, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Wareham, Sophie Molineux, Megan Schutt, Darcie Brown
Sri Lanka XI: Vishmi Gunaratne, Chamari Athapaththu (c), Harshita Samarawickrama, Hasini Perera, Kavisha Dilhari, Nilakshika Silva, Hasini Perera, Anushka Sanjeewani (wk), Sugandika Kumari, Inoshi Priyadarshani, Udeshika Prabodhani, Inoka Ranaweera
Sri Lanka win the toss and will bat first
No surprises in the decision, getting a score on the board has very much been the trend in Sharjah, both matches played at the ground on Thursday were won by the team batting first.
Athapaththu says her team want to play fearless and exciting cricket. Healy is unperturbed by losing the toss, she says there is a calmness in their camp but delivers her words with a ruthless glint in the eye that suggests they are very much going to hit the ground running.
It looks a scorcher in Sharjah, sun beating down but a bit of a breeze blowing across the ground to provide some succour from the rays. The mercury is set to hit 36 degrees today, Australia have been getting their Scandi on as part of their preparations for this tournament, regular sauna sessions deployed in order to get them used to the potentially sweltering conditions.
Preamble
James Wallace
Hello and welcome to the latest chapter in Australian dominance in women’s world cricket… the T20 World Cup is underway in the UAE. Alyssa Healy’s side have bossed the format over the past decade with six titles on the green and gold shelf, a stellar batting and bowling line up make for a well oiled winning machine.
Today’s opponents are Sri Lanka, no strangers to silverware themselves after scooping the Asian Cup a few months ago, Chamari Athapaththu’s side will pose a decent threat today in Sharjah, albeit they’ve never beaten Australia in a T20, then again – not many sides have.
The tournament has already seen a shock result, over in Group A New Zealand skittled India yesterday in Dubai to run out winners by 58 runs. Will we see banana skins, steamrollering or something in between? There’s only one way to find out – play begins at 2pm local time/8pm AEST and 11am where I am in foggy old London town.
Send us your thoughts and theories in the usual way, I’ll be back for the toss and team news very shortly.
