Australia play Sri Lanka in the third game of the Commonwealth Bank series on Friday.
These are early days in the tri-series but Sri Lanka, who go into the game with a loss to India in their opener, will not want to fall behind in the race to getting to the finals. A defeat against Australia will push them to the third spot and it will be a continuing trend from their series in South Africa.
Australia are the in-form side. After winning the four-Test series against India, they defeated the same opponents by a facile 65 run-margin in a 32-over game. They started off slowly but after a prolonged break for rain, came back strongly to register a massive 216/5 in 32 overs. India were never in the hunt after that.
Sri Lanka will know that they can ill-afford to make the same tactical mistakes they did in their opener against India. Picking five pace bowlers in their first game meant that they did not have too much backup by way of spin and failed to get any respite in the middle overs. Against Australia, spin could be their key as they look to expose the home team’s problems against slow bowling.
Rangana Herath will make it to the side and that will mean that Thisara Perera could sit out after a poor game with the ball. The batting, on the other hand, should remain the same for Sri Lanka.
There is a purported change for the home team as well as they look to give as many players a chance as possible. Peter Forrest should make it to the playing 11 but the Aussies have decided to name their 11 just before the game, which means that it is not yet known who he will replace. Dave Warner’s form has been a bit scratchy since that century at WACA against India. Forrest’s opening skills could mean that a swap with Warner will be a like-for-like replacement.
The home team will go into the game as favourites as they look to blast the Sri Lankans out with some genuine pace. They could contemplate going into the game with a four-pronged pace attack as well.
The Australia v Sri Lanka 3rd ODI at Perth will begin at 4.20 am GMT on February 10.
