Steve Smith’s surrogate captaincy stint will survive for at least a few more weeks, as confirmed by Australia’s final squad announcement for the upcoming Champions Trophy. The team will be without the likes of Mitchell Starc (personal reasons), Josh Hazlewood, and Mitchell Marsh (injuries), as well as Marcus Stoinis, who recently retired. These absences have forced Australia to make plenty of changes to their lineup. This means that these two ODIs against Sri Lanka will play an immense role in helping this patchwork Australian team gel into as much of a cohesive unit as possible before the eight-team tournament begins next week.
Sri Lanka, however, is the least bothered by the excitement of the Champions Trophy in the air. Finishing their ODI World Cup campaign in India in ninth place means they did not qualify for the tournament. So for them, this ODI series is just as random as a bilateral tour gets.
Team Overview:
Jake Fraser-McGurk, Cooper Connolly, Sean Abbott, Ben Dwarshuis, Spencer Johnson, and Tanveer Sangha are the new additions to Australia’s Champions Trophy squad. At some point in this series, Smith will have to try all of them out. It remains difficult to predict the lineup Australia will form for the first game or even the Champions Trophy, to be frank. Travis Head will certainly open with one of the new guys, either Fraser-McGurk or Matt Short. There will also be a lot of thinking to be done as to which wicketkeeper from Alex Carey and Josh Inglis will get a go-ahead, though Inglis is likely to be a preferred choice.
Sri Lanka played New Zealand in the ODI format last month and their squad remains the same, barring Chamindu Wickramasinghe, who has been left out for this ODI series. Charith Asalanka will lead a dynamic batting lineup including Kusal Mendis who fared decently in the Test leg of this tour, Avishka Fernando, Kamindu Mendis, and Pathum Nissanka. Although Kamindu had a subpar Test series versus Australia, his preferred format might see him doing the wonders he is known to do. Nissanka’s form will be one of Sri Lanka’s worries, however, the last time he played an ODI game, his 66-run knock topped the Sri Lankan run-getters.
Head-to-Head Matches:
Australia have won 64 ODI games from a total of 104 matches they played against Sri Lanka. With four games ending without any result, Sri Lanka managed to win the rest 36.
Weather and Pitch Report:
Sri Lanka last played an ODI here against India in August last year. The ground has historically favored spinners more than pacers, which is one of the benefits Sri Lanka will have over Australia. This game will be the first day game at RPS Stadium in over a decade, so conditions will vary from how they fared against India in August.
The weather will be free of intrusions from rain, but humidity will be a real pain, especially with the sun shining.
Prediction:
Sri Lanka’s spinners against a somewhat Shaky Australia might give them a benefit, and the hosts will try to go all out to make the maximum of it.
Where to Watch:
Australia: Channel 7
Sri Lanka: Ten Cricket, Siyatha TV, Sri Lanka Cricket Official YouTube Channel
Pakistan: Tapmad
India: Sony Sports, FanCode App
England: TNT Sports
