Calm SL ready for Australia’s rebound

Angelo Mathews and Lasith Malinga have a word during practice, R Premadasa Stadium, 23  August, 2016 - AFP

Amila Aponso and Dhananjaya de Silva walk with their batting equipment, R Premadasa Stadium, 23 August, 2016 - AFP

Sanath Jayasuriya and Graham Ford have a chat during a training session, R Premadasa Stadium, 23 August, 2016 - AFP

ESPNCricinfo: A poor opening stand for Sri Lanka, wickets for Mitchell Starc, ragging turn, catches at short leg, and problems with bowlers’ foot holes - had an Australia fan run naked across ground, the first ODI would have been almost exactly like the Test series. The teams, though, had swapped roles. It was Australia’s attack that had the discipline to squeeze regular wickets out. It was Australia’s top order that outlined the ideal approach on such tracks, by attacking early in their innings, and scrapping later on. And it was Sri Lanka that suffered the batting collapse.

Colombo was swept up in the good vibes generated by the Test whitewash. Angelo Mathews and the team management remain confident the young players who did well in the longest format would hit their stride in the ODIs as well. In addition, there was excitement over freshly-unearthed talent. Amila Aponso out-bowled more experienced spinners in his debut match, and several of his deliveries turned so much they wound up at slip.

But Sri Lanka, who have lost their last four ODIs, have to come from behind now. And Australia, having proven they are the best team in the world on high-scoring tracks, don’t too out of place playing limited-overs cricket in low-scoring conditions.

Dinesh Chandimal hasn’t quite been his usual exuberant self at the crease in his last two matches, but his returns have been crucial. He only struck three boundaries on Sunday, but went on to top-score in the match, with 80 not out. Having been in good touch in England as well, hitting half-centuries in each of the last four matches there, he now has the chance to become the first Sri Lanka batsman to six successive fifties. Kumar Sangakkara, Sanath Jayasuriya and Tillakaratne Dilshan had all scored five-in-a-row.

They would not put it in such strong terms, but Sri Lanka do not rate David Warner against offspin - at least not at the beginning of his innings. Offspin claimed his wicket four out of six times in the Tests, Dilruwan Perera bagging him thrice. They gave Dilshan a run at Warner in the first ODI, and though the batsman fell to seam bowling, Sri Lanka would likely try it again. With only one fifty in seven international innings on this tour, Warner would want to correct his relatively modest record in Asia.

Angelo Perera called up in place of injured Pradeep

​ESPNCricinfo: An aggravation of the hamstring strain that ruled Nuwan Pradeep out of the last two Tests, now sees him leave the Sri Lanka ODI squad. He was one of only two specialist seamers in the squad, but the selectors have replaced him with middle-order batsman Angelo Perera.

Pradeep was seen bowling at good pace in the nets through the back end of the Test series, and was in fact set to play the opening ODI, before aggravating his injury just minutes before the toss on Sunday. That he is in the ODI squad at all is thanks to a spate of injuries to seamers. Pradeep had largely only played Tests until the likes of Lasith Malinga, Dushmantha Chameera and Dhammika Prasad were all ruled out.Perera makes his way into the side after good outings with Sri Lanka A team in England. He scored 35, 30 not out, 35 and 69 in four list A matches against England Lions and Pakistan A. An aggressive right-hand batsman, Perera has also been one of the more consistent performers in domestic cricket over the past few years, maintaining an average of 36.21 and a strike rate of 93 across 78 List A innings. He hit 450 first-class runs at an average of 40.90 in this year’s Premier League Tournament.

The selectors had originally selected Perera as cover for batsmen Dinesh Chandimal and Kusal Mendis who took blows to the ribs and fingers respectively. Both those players have been cleared to play on Wednesday however, and, with seamers unlikely to play a major role for Sri Lanka in this series, no fast-bowling replacement has been made for Pradeep.