After consecutive defeats in the first two matches, Australia finally won the World Cup 2023 by defeating Sri Lanka by 5 wickets.
The important match between the two winless teams in the World Cup 2023 t was played at the Bharat Ratana Shree Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekna Cricket Stadium in the Indian city of Lucknow, where Sri Lankan captain Kusal Mendis won the toss and decided to bat first.
Sri Lanka Innings
The team’s openers vindicated the skipper’s decision and gave the team a strong partnership of 125. Before the Sri Lankan openers proved more dangerous, Australia got their first breakthrough and Patham Nissanka’s 61 was the wicket of Pat Cummins.
On this occasion, captain Kusal Mendis came to the wicket to support Kusal Perera, but the partnership between the two batsmen could not be established and Kusal Perera became the wicket of Pat Cummins on an individual score of 78 for a total score of 157.
As soon as the second wicket fell, Sri Lanka’s batting line was completely shaken and one wicket after another fell and no player could face the Australian bowlers. Sri Lanka’s third player to score in double figures was Charith Asalanka who scored 25 runs.
The entire Sri Lankan team was bowled out for 209 runs in the 44th over and Australia were given a target of 210 runs to win.
On behalf of Australia, spinner Adam Zampa took 4 wickets while Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc took 2 each while Glenn Maxwell dismissed one player.
Australia Innings
As Australia chased down the target, veteran opener David Warner went on the offensive and scored 11 runs off 6 balls with the help of a six, but when the score was 24 runs in 3 overs, he was lbw to Madushanka.
Sri Lankan Madushanka gave the team another win in his eighth over and sent veteran batsman Steve Smith to the pavilion for a wicket, having faced 5 balls.
Mitchell Marsh and Marence Lebouchen put on a good partnership for the third wicket after losing two crucial wickets for 24 runs and took the team out of some pressure.
The Sri Lankan bowlers troubled Australia and Labushin was dismissed by the umpire early on but the batsman took a review that went in his favor and thus Australia avoided a huge loss.
Mitchell Marsh became the first Australian batsman to score a half-century in this World Cup, but he failed to play a long innings and was run out for 81 after scoring 52 runs.
Josh Inglis and Lebouchen continued to lead the team and put on a partnership of 77 runs to take the team to 158 in the 29th over, during which Inglis also completed his half-century.
Labushin scored 40 runs off 60 balls with the help of two fours and was caught by Karuna Ratne off Madushanka.
Australia’s fifth out was Josh Inglis, who scored 58 runs off 59 balls with 5 fours and a six.
Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoins did not allow any more wickets to fall and scored 209 runs at the end of 35 overs to level the score and Stoins hit a towering six on the second ball of the 36th over to give the team a 5-wicket victory.
Australia finally got their first victory in World Cup 2023 by scoring 215 runs for 5 wickets. Maxwell scored 31 off 31 balls with 4 fours and two sixes and Stoins remained unbeaten on 20 with two fours and a six. For Sri Lanka, Dilshan Madushanka took the most wickets with 3 and Velalage one.
It may be noted that Sri Lanka has failed to win the mega event so far, scoring 326 runs against South Africa and 344 runs against Pakistan but was defeated in both matches.
South Africa set the world record for the highest score in the World Cup by scoring 428 runs against the 1996 world champion team and then Pakistan set the record for the highest score by crossing the target of 345 runs against them. what was
On the other hand, the five-time champion Australia has yet to open a winning record in the mega event. In the last match, South Africa defeated them by 134 runs thanks to the excellent performance of Quinton de Kock and the bowlers. Had to face a defeat against India.
Despite the presence of big names like David Warner and Steve Smith in the Australian batting line-up, the team has so far failed to cross the 200 mark in both matches and the batting line-up without Travis Head looks to be struggling.
The disappointing performance of the Australian batting line-up can be gauged from the fact that no player could score a half-century in both matches and against India Smith was the most successful batsman with 46 runs while Marins scored the same number of runs. Labushin scored against South Africa.
Apart from this, the Australian fielding in both matches has also been very substandard and they have dropped many catches so far.
Defending 200 runs in the match against India, after dismissing three host batsmen for 2 runs, Australia had an opportunity to take the third wicket soon, but Mitchell Marsh dropped an easy catch of Virat Kohli on an individual score of 12. After which the famous batsman played a turn of 85 runs and led his team to victory.
If the Australian team had caught Virat Kohli at that time, the Indian team would have lost four wickets for 20 runs. In the match against South Africa, Australia’s fielding quality was even worse and they dropped 5 catches.
Chasing a target of 312 runs against the Proteas, the Australian team lost 6 wickets for 70 runs, but Marnes Labuchin and Mitchell Starc managed to save their team’s run rate from deteriorating by bringing the score to a reasonable level. Currently, Australia is in the 8th position on the points table of the World Cup 2023.