AUS VS SL: Josh Hazlewood four wickets lead Australia towards victory over Sri Lanka

AUS VS SL: Australia opened the post-Justin Langer era with an easy 20-run T20 victory over Sri Lanka in Sydney on Friday, with Josh Hazlewood taking 4-12 on his comeback from a long injury layoff.

Langer was always going to miss the five-match series, opting to relax after a long road trip, but his surprise resignation last weekend cast a pall over the preparations.

Australia was restricted to 149 for nine in their first T20 since winning the World Cup in November, with interim coach Andrew McDonald at the lead.

The visitors, who were chasing 143 to win after one over was lost to rain, were thwarted by top-class bowling from Hazlewood, Pat Cummins (1-32), and Adam Zampa (3-18).

“Nice to get the win. I thought we had to bowl well to defend that total, it wasn’t the easiest wicket to bat on,” said Australia skipper Aaron Finch.

“We probably left ourselves a little bit short with the bat, but an unbelievable performance from our bowlers.”

Sri Lanka got off to a poor start, with Mitchell Starc bowling a maiden to open the innings, before Hazlewood pounced in his first encounter since the first Ashes Test against England in December.

Danushka Gunathilaka’s return after a ban for violating Covid-19 rules during a tour of England last June was ruined when he was disqualified for one.

Avishka Fernando struck a tremendous six off Cummins, but he was enticed into another big hit off the following ball, which he skied to Matthew Wade.

Pathum Nissanka (36) and Charith Asalanka (16), who were struggling at 37 for two after eight overs, smashed 15 off Starc’s ninth over to get them back into contention before Zampa removed both in the space of three balls.

It shifted the momentum back to Australia, and Sri Lanka never recovered, finishing on 122 for eight, with Wanindu Hasaranga (13) and Dinesh Chandimal (25 not out) the only other batsman to reach double figures.

“We had a lot of positives with the bowling and in the field, but the batsmen didn’t get any partnership going which is a concern,” said Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka.

Ben McDermott scored 53 runs for Australia after Shanaka won the toss and chose to bat.

McDermott, who is filling in for David Warner, who is resting before of Australia’s impending visit to Pakistan, got the ball rolling in the fifth over, hitting Hasaranga for the first six of the day.

With a googly, the world’s number one T20 bowler broke the opening partnership and bowled Finch for eight runs four balls later.

Before a 29-minute delay due to moderate rain, rookie Josh Inglis joined McDermott.

When they returned, McDermott struck a big six off Shanaka to surpass his previous high score of 35 in his 18th international, guiding Australia to a 75-run half-time lead before Sri Lanka fought back.

Glenn Maxwell (five balls) was caught off Hasaranga attempting for a huge smash, and Inglis (23) was dismissed to Chamika Karunaratne.

After Hasaranga dismissed Steve Smith for nine runs, Karunaratne trapped McDermott after he reached his first T20 international half-century.

Australia lost its last eight wickets for 69 runs as Marcus Stoinis slogged an entertaining 30 before the outstanding Binura Fernando dismissed him and Wade in consecutive balls.

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