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Australia will hope for a change in batting fortunes when they take on surprise series leaders Sri Lanka in the fourth ODI at the SCG in Sydney.
We’ll bring you the live coverage of the action throughout this fourth ODI at Brisbane from 2.20 pm AEST on January 20.
1-2 down, a couple of batting displays described as ‘horrible’ by the captain and one loss away from a shock series defeat, Australia have much to play for this fourth ODI.
Michael Clarke was positively irked by the way their top-order crumbled under slightly helpful conditions to seam bowlers at the Gabba.
And so he should be, given that it appeared that there was a sense of complacency, almost bordering on over-confidence in the Australian batting in that game. Many pundits called it a disgrace.
Instead of respecting the conditions, the ‘A’ team batsmen fell in a bid to dominate the opposition bowling; Dave Warner, Michael Clarke, David Hussey and Matthew Wade were all guilty of playing strokes unbecoming of the conditions on hand.
Not that there will be too many changes to the batting line-up. With only Glenn Maxwell in the reserves who can be called a batsman proper, there aren’t many options that Australia have in the first place.
Secondly, scrambling a playing 11 on the basis of one poor performance may not seem right and so the same batting line-up could get another go.
That said, between the top six, the batsmen will need to find out ways to counter the swing of Nuwan Kulasekara, after he produced his best spell in international cricket at Brisbane.
Lasith Malinga, who was so beautifully played out in the first ODI, continued to remain a threat and his potency increases with the early fall of opposition wickets. That is also probably why Malinga stopped taking the new ball after bowling with it in the first ODI this series.
Sri Lanka also batted strangely in their chase of 75 at Brisbane. They looked to attack the bowling from the very beginning and had it not been for the butter-fingered Aussie fielders, they could well have struggled to get there.
It was only after the tea-break, when the moisture on the pitch would have probably dried out a tad that things got any better for the visitors. And they still lost a couple more wickets before getting to their target.
They could look to make a couple of changes despite their win at the Gabba though. One, Shaminda Eranga, who was brought in to exploit the seaming conditions, could be replaced by Ajantha Mendis, who played in the first couple of games.
Secondly, if Dinesh Chandimal is declared fit, he could be selected as well. With Chandimal’s replacement Kushal Perera doing well in these two matches, Upul Tharanga might have to make way after scoring just 13 in the first three games.
Mahela Jayawardene’s poor form has slipped under the radar thanks mainly due to his team’s performance but he will look to get going soon enough. The pitch at SCG, if it is anywhere close to being slower than the ones on display so far and spin-friendly, Jayawardene can be expected to play a part.
We will bring you the live coverage throughout the game from the SCG and hope to receive your opinions as the action unfolds.
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