Australia vs. Sri Lanka, Game 14 of the ODI World Cup 2023: Who Said What?

Australia defeated Sri Lanka by five wickets on Monday, October 16 in Lucknow to earn their first victory in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023. Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Perera, the opening pair for Sri Lanka, put on a century-plus stand for the first wicket after skipper Kusal Mendis chose to bat first after winning the toss.

However, Adam Zampa stormed through the middle order with his outstanding session and bowled Sri Lanka out for 209 after Australian captain Pat Cummins dismissed the opening pair. In response, Australia had a terrible start, falling to 24/2 after four overs after the cheap dismissals of David Warner and Steve Smith. Australia was able to get home in 35.2 overs despite the early knocks because to half-centuries from Mitchell Marsh and Josh Inglis.

The following are the match’s talking points:

1. Sri Lanka starts off strong

Sri Lanka got off to a great start thanks to the opening duo of Kusal Perera (78 off 82) and Pathum Nissanka (61 off 67), who put up 125 runs for the first wicket in 130 balls. Nissanka scored his second consecutive fifty of the competition while Perera’s innings featured 12 fours. Nissanka hit eight boundaries in his innings.

2. Adam Zampa creates a web of intrigue around Sri Lanka

The wrist spinner made a spectacular recovery as he picked up 4/47 in eight overs after conceding 70 runs in the previous match against South Africa. His four-fer comprised the dismissals of Maheesh Theekshana (0 off 5), Chamika Karunaratne (2 off 11), Sadeera Samarawickrama (8 off 8), and Kusal Mendis (9 off 13).

3. Mitchell Marsh and Josh Inglis lead Australia’s batting lineup.

Marsh ultimately recovered from a few setbacks in the first two games, scoring 52 (51) with the help of nine fours. With a magnificent innings of 58 (59), Inglis furthered his case for being chosen over Carey by stabilizing the Australian batting after losing two early wickets.

Winning Captain, Pat Cummins, Australia said:

Nothing said much on the back of two losses. The energy on the field was great. They started very well. We bowled decently. We stayed at it. The bowlers hit the deck hard. I think high 300 was par on that. There is a lot of people watching this. Outside noise doesn’t bother us a lot. All parts of the game came together today. We would want to keep it up.

Losing Captain, Kusal Mendis, Sri Lanka said:

Nissanka and Perera batted well. After that we struggled and got a low score. 290 or 300 would have been a good score. We couldn’t rotate the strike much. Last two games we batted really well. Today the batters struggled. I have confidence in my batting unit. I think Madushanka bowled really well. He gave us two early wickets. We can field better. I hope Matheesha can recover quickly.

Player of the Match, Adam Zampa, Australia said:

To be honest, I wasn’t feeling great because I had a bit of a back spasm. Was playing through it the last couple of days. Today I felt better, bowled better today. (On coming out the attack at the end) I think it was the captain’s decision to get the off spinner against the lefties, and my back was also pretty sore. (On his performances so far) Personally, not at my best and last game particularly felt I could have been doing better.

My job in this team is to take wickets in the middle order. Didn’t quite do that last game and put the pressure on the death bowlers. Today, I’ve been feeling better, but nice to come out on the winning side today. Took a while to get into the game, just got to keep that wicket taking attitude going, doesn’t matter if I leak some runs. (On the plans forward) I wish winning was that easy, we’ve got a big one against Pakistan in Bangalore next up. That’s going to be a tough one.