Australia head into this match as the raging hot favourite to take out the tournament after demolishing India in their previous match and the continual fall of South Africa. Sri Lanka suffered an early loss to New Zealand before taking care of Zimbabwe and West Indies.
The battle everyone is looking forward to is the clash between the formidable pace trio of Johnson, Tait and Nannes against the red hot Mahela Jayawardene. If Jayawardene can keep his form going, he will go a long way to setting up a win for Sri Lanka and may well secure himself the player of the tournament. However a big knock by Jayawardene does not guarantee a win for Sri Lanka as they found out in the New Zealand match where they only managed 135 with 60% of that coming from Jayawardene’s 81 off 51 balls.
Australia are running like clockwork with a few improvements to make them running on all cylinders. Cameron White is still yet to fire a shot in this tournament, and Mitchell Johnson was far from 100% in the win against India. Once again spin will play a key factor in the Australian batting and they will come up against the tricky Mendis and his new partner in crime, Suraj Randiv. Cricinfo noted an interesting stat where Australia have won five out of their six games where Clarke hasn’t batted in a T20I.
The opening duos in in the batting and bowling will go a long way to deciding the outcome. And if Dilshan ever decides to fire a shot, then the Sri Lankan batting starts to look very dangerous.
Key Players
For Australia: As usual the openers and the pace trio will be the key players for Australia, as has been the case throughout the tournament.
For Sri Lanka: Mahela Jayawardene is obviously the man Australia want to get out early but they won’t want to forget Kumar Sangakkara. While Dilshan is in poor form, Australia will not want to be the team that gets him back in form. On the bowling front the unorthodox pace/spin combo of Malinga and Mendis will be the ones the Australian batsmen keep a firm eye on.
Key Matchups
Mahela Jayawardene vs Pace Trio: As mentioned earlier in my article, this matchup will be Jayawardene biggest test in this tournament so far.
Malinga vs Watson: Shane Watson has shown a weakness for hitting his pull shot in the air and he has been out from it a number of times recently. Malinga has the pace to extract the bounce that the Indian bowler’s couldn’t.
Australian batsmen vs Randiv, Mendis: I know I sound like a broken record when including the Australian batsmen vs spin but it will always be a factor until we start taking care of the spinners more consistently.
Likely lineups
The only concern in the Australian camp is over the elbow of Johnson. If he isn’t quite right, Ryan Harris has shown to be a more than useful replacement.
Australia: 1. David Warner, 2. Shane Watson, 3. Michael Clarke (c), 4. David Hussey, 5. Cameron White, 6. Brad Haddin (wk), 7. Michael Hussey, 8. Steven Smith, 9. Mitchell Johnson, 10. Dirk Nannes, 11. Shaun Tait.
Sri Lanka will need to make at least one change from their last match against the West Indies, with Muralitharan out of the tournament through injury. Suraj Randiv will more than likely get the nod given Australia’s struggles against spin and his batting is more than useful. The Jayasuriya experiment didn’t work too well which might see Dilshan back at the top.
Sri Lanka: 1. Tillakaratne Dilshan, 2. Mahela Jayawardene, 3. Kumar Sangakkara (c, wk), 4. Chamara Kapugedera, 5. Sanath Jayasuriya, 6. Angelo Mathews, 7. Thissara Perera, 8. Suraj Randiv, 9. Nuwan Kulasekara, 10. Lasith Malinga, 11. Ajantha Mendis
PlanetCricket World Twenty20 – Sri Lanka vs Australia preview
The battle everyone is looking forward to is the clash between the formidable pace trio of Johnson, Tait and Nannes against the red hot Mahela Jayawardene. If Jayawardene can keep his form going, he will go a long way to setting up a win for Sri Lanka and may well secure himself the player of the tournament. However a big knock by Jayawardene does not guarantee a win for Sri Lanka as they found out in the New Zealand match where they only managed 135 with 60% of that coming from Jayawardene’s 81 off 51 balls.
Australia are running like clockwork with a few improvements to make them running on all cylinders. Cameron White is still yet to fire a shot in this tournament, and Mitchell Johnson was far from 100% in the win against India. Once again spin will play a key factor in the Australian batting and they will come up against the tricky Mendis and his new partner in crime, Suraj Randiv. Cricinfo noted an interesting stat where Australia have won five out of their six games where Clarke hasn’t batted in a T20I.
The opening duos in in the batting and bowling will go a long way to deciding the outcome. And if Dilshan ever decides to fire a shot, then the Sri Lankan batting starts to look very dangerous.
Key Players
For Australia: As usual the openers and the pace trio will be the key players for Australia, as has been the case throughout the tournament.
For Sri Lanka: Mahela Jayawardene is obviously the man Australia want to get out early but they won’t want to forget Kumar Sangakkara. While Dilshan is in poor form, Australia will not want to be the team that gets him back in form. On the bowling front the unorthodox pace/spin combo of Malinga and Mendis will be the ones the Australian batsmen keep a firm eye on.
Key Matchups
Mahela Jayawardene vs Pace Trio: As mentioned earlier in my article, this matchup will be Jayawardene biggest test in this tournament so far.
Malinga vs Watson: Shane Watson has shown a weakness for hitting his pull shot in the air and he has been out from it a number of times recently. Malinga has the pace to extract the bounce that the Indian bowler’s couldn’t.
Australian batsmen vs Randiv, Mendis: I know I sound like a broken record when including the Australian batsmen vs spin but it will always be a factor until we start taking care of the spinners more consistently.
Likely lineups
The only concern in the Australian camp is over the elbow of Johnson. If he isn’t quite right, Ryan Harris has shown to be a more than useful replacement.
Australia: 1. David Warner, 2. Shane Watson, 3. Michael Clarke (c), 4. David Hussey, 5. Cameron White, 6. Brad Haddin (wk), 7. Michael Hussey, 8. Steven Smith, 9. Mitchell Johnson, 10. Dirk Nannes, 11. Shaun Tait.
Sri Lanka will need to make at least one change from their last match against the West Indies, with Muralitharan out of the tournament through injury. Suraj Randiv will more than likely get the nod given Australia’s struggles against spin and his batting is more than useful. The Jayasuriya experiment didn’t work too well which might see Dilshan back at the top.
Sri Lanka: 1. Tillakaratne Dilshan, 2. Mahela Jayawardene, 3. Kumar Sangakkara (c, wk), 4. Chamara Kapugedera, 5. Sanath Jayasuriya, 6. Angelo Mathews, 7. Thissara Perera, 8. Suraj Randiv, 9. Nuwan Kulasekara, 10. Lasith Malinga, 11. Ajantha Mendis
PlanetCricket World Twenty20 – Sri Lanka vs Australia preview
