Australia will attempt to use their upcoming three-game one-day cricket series against Sri Lanka to rebuild their dented confidence ahead of this summer’s Ashes series.
Australia’s losing run in all forms of the game continued in Perth on Sunday night when Sri Lanka romped to a seven-wicket Twenty20 victory with the greatest of ease.
The defeat was Australia’s fourth straight in the T20 format, while a three-Test losing streak has seen them slip to a lowly fifth on the Test rankings.
Australia take on Sri Lanka in the 50-over format at the MCG on Wednesday and Test vice-captain Michael Clarke said it was imperative for the team to build some winning momentum soon.
“You want to win every game you play, in all three forms of the game,” Clarke said.
“I was told in the press conference we had won 10 out of 10 in this form of the game(Twenty20) in Australia, so it is disappointing to lose our first Twenty20 game in Australia.
“It is important that we play good cricket and win these games against Sri Lanka to build momentum into the Test series against England.
“We need to improve, there is no doubt about it.
“We are not getting the results we would like in all three forms and we need to get better and keep working on our game, individually and as a team and keep working on the areas that aren’t as good as they need to be.”
Clarke unexpectedly opened the batting on Sunday night but made just 16 as his lean run in the Twenty20 arena continued.
David Warner (2), Shane Watson (4), David Hussey (7) and Cameron White (8) also failed as Australia struggled to 8-133, with Steve Smith (34 off 23) and Brad Haddin (35 off 30) saving the hosts from total embarrassment.
In reply, Sri Lanka cruised to the victory target with 21 balls remaining thanks largely to a 71-run stand between Tillakaratne Dilshan (41 off 34) and Kumar Sangakkara (44 off 43).
Clarke stood by his decision to open in place of Watson.
“I thought it was the right decision for the team,” he said.
“I made that decision, unfortunately we didn’t score enough runs tonight.
“I felt good.
“Both Dave and I hit six balls in the first three overs out of the middle of the bat, but straight to the field, which was a little bit disappointing.
“If they find the gap we are off to a decent start. That is cricket that is the way it goes. All of the top order need to keep working hard and keep to improve.”
Sri Lanka captain Sangakkara was careful not to pick apart Australia’s poor performance.
“Well it’s hard to read anything into one game,” Sangakkara said.
“We’ve got to see how we progress in the one-day series as well, we’ve got to start from scratch.
“That strength at home, that’s the challenge for visiting sides to try to take that away from Australia … it’s a great challenge.”
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