Mendis fires Australian exit
A shell-shocked Australian side have been offed from the World T20 after their second defeat in three days. Sri Lanka beat Ricky Ponting’s side by six wickets at Trent Bridge this afternoon.
The 50-over world champions exit marked the second shock of the day in this twisty-turny tournament: Ireland had already beaten Bangladesh, by six wickets, to secure a Super8s berth.
Having won the toss and put Australia in, Sri Lanka’s none-more-varied attack soon had Ponting’s men in trouble. Angelo Mathews, making his T20 debut, removed danger man David Warner in the first over.
Sri Lanka used five different bowlers in the first six-over Powerplay, a rotation tactic that did not initially phase Ponting (25) and Shane Watson (22). Ponting indeed hit Lasith Malinga for three consecutive boundaries at the start of the fifth over.
Soon, though the Aussie wheels fell off, mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis picking up a key wicket in each of his first three overs: first Ponting, then Watson, then Mike Hussey, reducing the Aussies to 94/6 in the 15th over.
Mitchell Johnson came in to blast 28 off 13, including two sixes, to set the Sirils a target, but the damage was done – and Malinga (3/36) took two more wickets at the death.
Australia closed on 159/9.
Despite a sensational diving catch on the boundary from Dave Warner removing Sanath Jayasuriya, Sri Lanka were always on top in the run chase. Australia’s bowling – six wides, two no-balls – looked slack and lacking both focus and the obvious variety and guile their opponents had shown.
Tillekeratne Dilshan (53 off 32) and skipper Kumar Sangakkara (55* off 42) carried the Sirils towards their target, with Mubarak’s late 21 off 12 putting the game beyond Australia just when it looked as if they might claw their way back in, thanks to a tight spell from Michael Clarke (1/19 off three.)
Afterwards, Ponting said that Mendis had been a key man. “We’ve all had an opportunity to see plenty of video footage of him, but when you’re in a Twenty20 game and you’ve got to go out there and play a certain way, you’ve got to take the challenge up to the bowlers,” he said. “Today he got the better of us. He certainly had a big impact on the game. That was probably the difference in the game that their spinners did dictate to us a little bit through the middle of our batting innings.”
• Finding early swing, ex-Ireland skipper Trent Johnson (3/20) picked up the first three wickets as Bangladesh were reduced to 66/5 and with spinner Kyle McCallan (1/17) applying the brakes in the middle overs, the Banglas – who had already lost to India on Saturday – could only recover as far as 137/8 from their 20 overs. Niall O’Brien (40) and his brother Kevin O’Brien (39*) helped Ireland to victory with 10 balls to spare. Now, after a dead rubber against India, they go through to the same Super 8 group as Sri Lanka, New Zealand and the Netherlands or Pakistan, who play tomorrow (Tuesday) at Lord’s.
