Australia vs Sri Lanka Match Prediction: The Sportsrush present before you the Match Prediction of warm-up match between AUS vs SL.
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Australia are back at the Rose Bowl in Southampton for their second and final warm-up match preceding the ODI Cricket World Cup. Having faced success at the same venue against England yesterday, Australia would be looking to put down an underwhelming Sri Lankan side.
Fully aware of the conditions which they are going to ply their goods in, Australia will hardly be worked up by a Sri Lankan contingent which was decimated by South Africa. The 87-run defeat brought to light everything that is wrong with their combination ahead of the league stage.
Beginning the week will be these two sides who look to try out their full squad of 15 players for one last time before the World Cup commences. Fringe players from Australia in particular will get good playing time while for Sri Lanka this is one last time to cover up the gaping holes in a paper thin outfit.
Australia vs Sri Lanka – Pitch Report
Small boundaries, good batting conditions and completely flat pitches. This surface is going to encapsulate everything that a batsman wants to come out and play his full range of shots and amass a bagful of runs. Last featured yesterday when Australia and England played at this venue, Australia scored a high 297 runs before eventually bowling out England for 285.
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The side winning the toss should be looking to bat first as has been the norm throughout the warm-up matches. It allows countries to come in and settle down early on and give their batting order the maximum number of overs to apply themselves in the middle.
Australia vs Sri Lanka – Key Battles
Steven Smith vs Suranga Lakmal
Returning on the international arena after a hiatus of one year, Steve Smith got the just the treatment which was promised to him by English supporters. They were ruthless and relentless in jeering him as he walked out to the middle, showering him with chants of cheater as they spared no expense in making their hatred towards Australia clear.
An unpurterbed Smith scored 116, a spectacular innings which saw Australia manage to put on a healthy 297. It was an innings that bespoke grace as he sublimely found the boundary, making most of the pristine batting conditions to stroke the ball cleanly to the fence.
Facing a batsman of such calibre, the Sri Lankan bowling unit is going to have hardly any change of restraining him. If anyone though has the slightest chance of doing so, it might just be pacer Suranga Lakmal. He’s the only chance Sri Lanka have of getting Smith packing cheaply and if he fails to trouble the Australia up, Sri Lanka could be in big trouble.
Jason Behrendorff vs Dimuth Karunaratne
In a shambles of a batting display against South Africa, Karunaratne emerged as the only batsman to offer some kind of semblance to Sri Lanka’s innings and put on a brave front. What was especially impressive was the way he held fort from one end while squaring up against a daunting run chase of 338 runs.
Against Jason Behrendorff, expect him to face a stern test. He’s going to come breathing down with a decisive line and length and his jaffers will test Karunaratne’s skill against the moving ball.
Australia vs Sri Lanka – What numbers suggest?
Having played a total of 97 matches till date, Sri Lanka have only managed to come out on top 33% of the time. It’s been an encounter Australia have liked playing in, such is the tight hold they have had over Sri Lanka with 60 wins against Sri Lanka’s 33. The remaining four matches have been abandoned between the two sides owing to harsh weather conditions.
Australia vs Sri Lanka – Match Prediction
Defeated by 87 runs against South Africa, Sri Lanka aren’t going to have a pleasant time against Australia either. Their opponent are coming into this encounter having defeated the hosts by 12 runs with a fantastic death over performance that saw the skittle out England in the concluding part of the innings to pick up 5 wickets for 50 runs.
This is going to be yet another comprehensive win for Australia. The form that David Warner and Steve Smith showed the last time around showed that they have no jitters and we just can’t envision Sri Lanka being able to restrict Australia’s dominant batting line-up.
