Sri Lanka v Australia, 1st ODI: Five Talking Points

Australia finally got their horrendous Sri Lankan tour back on track following the 3-0 whitewash against the hands of the same side. Although Kusal Mendis and Dinesh Chandimal reprised their roles as batting stalwarts for Sri Lanka, it was the brilliance of Steve Smith and Aaron Finch that eventually saw the Aussies get over the line and pass their spin baptism test. A landmark was also reached when Mitchell Starc became the fastest bowler to complete 100 ODI wickets. While there were a plethora of talking points, we take a look at five points that stood out from the outset of the SL v AUS encounter.

1. Mitchell Starc reaches 100th Test wicket

When Travis Head hung on to a catch from Dhanajaya de Silva, the R Premadasa Stadium, various bars in Australia and especially Twitter blew up with the heartiest congratulations for Mitchell Starc. The 26-year old Aussie pacer claimed his 100th ODI wicket and subsequently became the fastest bowler to achieve the feat in just 59 One-Day Internationals. Starc would eventually go on to conclude with figures of 3/32 in an impressive bowling spell that included a maiden over as well.

2. Kusal Mendis redeems Test match form

Kusal Mendis’ 176 in the Test series quite effectively set the tone for the Sri Lankans in the series. Sure enough, Mendis came up with yet another pivotal performance with the bat as he ensured that the Sri Lankans would eventually have a launch pad towards getting the big score that they so needed and deserved.

Also Read – SL v Aus 1st ODI Review – Australia register first win on the tour

3. Dinesh Chandimal proves a point

Dinesh Chandimal is quite effectively Sri Lanka’s crisis man. Each time the Lankans are in a crisis, you can almost always expect Chandimal to come to the fore with the bat and put up a terrific performance for the side. Sure enough, Chandimal smashed a wonderful innings of 80 runs against a brilliant Australian attack, something that saw them cross the psychological total of 200 runs on a spinning track.

4. Finch and Smith take the game away from Lankans

As most Aussies say, make hay when the sun shines. Although the sun was not particularly shining at the time, Aaron Finch and Steve Smith exhibited some tremendous batsmanship against a quality Lankan spin bowling unit. They both managed to score half-centuries, something that did indeed see them put Australia in perhaps the best chance of securing a win in torrid batting conditions.

5. Dilruwan Perera shines in vain

Dilruwan Perera was the hero of the Sri Lankan side in the second Test match of the series against Australia at Galle. The 34-year old once again showed some class as well as talent as he managed to trouble the Australian batsmen with his ability to turn the ball a country mile. However, he did not have a spin partner who had the quality of Rangana Herath as the Aussies managed to play the spin to perfection and eventually clinch their 3-wicket win.

Also Read – Twitter Reactions: First victory of the tour for Steve Smith’s Australia