Sri Lanka found batting heroes in the form of Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis to sail through a challenging run-chase in the third ODI against Australia in Colombo on June 19. Nissanka struck a century, while Mendis nearly pulled off a hundred of his own as the hosts impressively overhauled the visitors’ 291/6.
Playing his 15th one-dayer for the Lankans with a poor record under his belt, Nissanka needed to assert his presence with a solid performance that justifies the patience from the selectors. And the right-hander did just that, scoring a terrific 137 off 147 balls that guided his national team through to the better part of the chase.
He shared a critical second-wicket partnership of 213 runs with Kusal Mendis, who smashed 87 runs off 85 deliveries and kept Sri Lanka’s nose ahead of the asking rate. Mendis got injured and was forced to retire hurt, which gave the Aussies a backdoor entry into the contest. But by then, the Nissanka-Mendis stand had done irrevocable damage to their chances.
The Lankan Lions eventually coasted home with six wickets in hand and more than an over to spare. Familiar bowling problems for the tour hurt the Aussies, as they had only Jhye Richardson (2/39) looking in any sort of control.
On a flat pitch, given their weakened bowling unit, the Aussies needed to put another 20-30 runs on the board. But that didn’t happen, as they kept losing wickets at wrong times. Travis Head top-scored with a 70, while Aaron Finch (62) and Alex Carey (49) also made healthy contributions. But nobody kicked on to make a daddy hundred like Nissanka.
That had a bit to do with the Sri Lankan spinners, with Jeffrey Vandersay (3/49) taking a three-fer and Maheesh Theekshana (0/37) delivering a tight spell. Had it not been for those two, the hosts may have been chasing in excess of 320 and it would’ve been a different ball game altogether.
Brief scores
Australia 291/6 in 50 overs (Head 70, Finch 62; Vandersay 3/49) lost to Sri Lanka 292/4 in 48.3 overs (Nissanka 137, Mendis 87; Richardson 2/39) by six wickets
