Adam Zampa’s dismantling of Sri Lanka arrived too late to salvage the series for Australia, and also too late for the his skiddy, accurate wrist spin to be considered for the Test team to face India in Pune from Thursday.
The frequent omission of Zampa from Australia’s ODI and Twenty20 sides – despite an excellent record in both formats – has been a mystery for quite some time, and there appeared to be thinly veiled frustration on the part of the bowler as he accounted for the series’ pivotal player Asela Gunaratne, Chamara Kapugedara and Dasun Shanaka in quick succession to push a target of 188 beyond the reach of the visitors.
His wickets came not from any extravagant turn but instead useful changes of pace and unrelenting attack on the stumps, winning a pair of back foot lbw verdicts from the umpire Paul Wilson either side of another slider that bowled Kapugedara between bat and pad. Australia’s selectors had admitted to choosing an “attacking” spinner in Mitchell Swepson over what the panel’s chairman Trevor Hohns called a more “defensive” operator in Zampa.
Sri Lanka made a rapid start to their chase but a sturdy Australian effort with the bat meant that they did not have much room to lose momentum. The captain Aaron Finch and his opening partner Michael Klinger both contributed half centuries, before Ben Dunk and Travis Head provided aggressive support through the middle overs.
Full report to follow
Toss Sri Lanka chose to bowl v Australia
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Adam Zampa was Australia’s only inclusion, replacing Andrew Tye © Cricket Australia
Sri Lanka’s captain Upul Tharanga won the toss and chose to send Australia in to bat first for the third time in as many matches this series, with the visitors chasing a clean sweep of the Twenty20 matches at Adelaide Oval.
The hosts recalled Adam Zampa in place of Andrew Tye for the dead rubber, banking on his spin bowling at the ground where he also plays for South Australia.
Sri Lanka called in allrounder Dasun Shanaka in place of the suspended Niroshan Dickwella, leaving Kusal Mendis to take over the wicketkeeper’s gloves.
The pitch showed some traces of assisting spin during the earlier women’s contest between Australia and New Zealand.
Australia: 1 Aaron Finch (capt), 2 Michael Klinger, 3 Ben Dunk, 4 Travis Head, 5 Moises Henriques, 6 Ashton Turner, 7 Tim Paine (wk), 8 James Faulkner, 9 Pat Cummins, 10 Adam Zampa, 11 Jhye Richardson.
Sri Lanka: 1 Dilshan Munaweera, 2 Upul Tharanga (capt), 3 Kusal Mendis (wk), 4 Asela Gunaratne, 5 Dasun Shanaka, 6 Milinda Siriwardana, 7 Chamara Kapugedera, 8 Seekkuge Prasanna, 9 Nuwan Kulasekara, 10 Lasith Malinga, 11 Vikum Sanjaya.
Daniel Brettig is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. @danbrettig
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo