AUS vs SL 2nd ODI, SL vs AUS 2022

It was Aaron Finch who won an important toss and opted to field first on a dry pitch keeping in mind the weather forecast later on, and knowing that the spinners will get more purchase of the wicket. Swepson, Head, and Kuhnemann came into the team as Stoinis, and Agar missed out due to side strain and Jhye Richardson was left out tactically. The Lankan batters got off to starts but failed to kick on as they lost wickets at the wrong time and let the Aussies back in.

The openers Danushka Gunathilaka and Pathum Nissanka scored 18 and 14 before getting out. Nissanka was the first one to go to the debutant Kuhnemann. Kusal Mendis at Number 3 contributed 36 while Dhananjaya de Silva contributed 34. Charith Asalanaka contributed with 13 as he missed out today. The skipper Dasun Shanaka contributed with 34 off 36 balls before giving his wicket at the wrong time to the Sri Lankans. Chamika Karunaratne contributed with 18 off 17 balls as he played a wrong shot at a critical time. The young Wellalage on his debut innings contributed a handy 20 off 35 balls. Jeffrey Vandersay contributed with just 7 runs before being dismissed. Dushmantha Chameera was unbeaten on 7 off 18 balls along with Maheesh Theekshana as he remained unbeaten on 11 off 14 balls as the last wicket pair had an unbeaten partnership of 21 off 25 balls. The rain came in after 47.4 overs and made sure that the Lankan innings ended at 220-9 in 47.4 overs.

The Australians used 32 overs of spin today and it proved effective for them. Josh Hazlewood was the only wicketless bowler for the Aussies, but he kept one end tight to give away only 7 overs for 26 runs. The debutant left-arm spinner Kuhnemann bowled 10 overs for 48 runs and picked up a couple of wickets. He also took a few catches and was good on the field as he made his presence felt on his debut. Glenn Maxwell, the part-time off-spin bowled 10 overs 2-35 with 2 maidens under his belt. Pat Cummins was the pick of the bowlers with his 8.2 overs yielding 35 runs as he managed to get four scalps under his name. Mitchell Swepson was expensive in general, but he also picked up a wicket for 58 runs in his 10 overs. We also saw Marnus Labuschagne bowling his arm over for 2 overs which yielded 13 runs. They gave away 8 extras in the bowling innings. Australia was a bit off in the field, but they managed to get the job done on a tacky pitch. 

But it was not enough as the Lankans came roaring back to win the game by 26 runs DLS method. A great bowling performance enables them to level the series 1-1. The post-match presentation ceremony comes your way now.