Hazlewood, Zampa down Sri Lanka in Australia's winning start

In a game of contrasting halves, Sri Lanka were let down by their batting after the bowlers did a commendable job, particularly in the backend of Australia's innings to restrict them to 149/9 in 20 overs. In response, Sri Lanka just couldn't get going and were pushed back further by Adam Zampa and Josh Hazlewood, who picked seven wickets between them to help Australia begin the post-Langer era with a 20-run victory.

Mitchell Starc and Hazlewood got the ball to shape and swing early, bowling 12 dot balls in the first three overs of Sri Lanka's chase. In a bid to not let the effort of their bowlers go in vain, Sri Lankan batters started to chuck their bats at most deliveries, in what proved to be an utterly chaotic PowerPlay in chase. The approach brought a couple of ballsy sixes, but Australia also accounted for the wickets of Danushka Gunathilaka and Aviska Fernando and Sri Lanka could only manage 30/2 in 6 overs.

Sri Lanka's hopes of getting a move on in the middle-overs were dented by Adam Zampa and his quest to carry forward his T20 World Cup squad from last November. Though Pathum Nissanka and Charith Asalanka got a few boundaries going off Starc and Cummins after the PowerPlay, Zampa returned to dismiss both of them in a single over - Nissanka skying a loopy delivery to long on and Asalanka miscuing a slog sweep off a googly, hitting to Steve Smith at deep midwicket. Sri Lanka promoted Hasaranga in an effort to push up the scoring rate, but that experiment lasted a couple of overs before Hasaranga became Zampa's third wicket. Just as Zampa was dismantling Sri Lanka's chase, a second rain break brought a brief halt to the game. It seemed like the sort of break Sri Lanka would have benefitted from, getting to regroup after a shaky period, but when play resumed, they fell further down the abyss. Sri Lanka were set a revised target of 143 in 19 overs, but that was a bridge too far for the visitors.

That's because Hazlewood bowled two superbly disguised slower ones to see the back of captain Dasun Shanaka and Chamika Karunaratne in the first over after resumption to leave Sri Lanka at 90 for 7. Dinesh Chandimal hit Pat Cummins for two boundaries to indicate the chase was still not dead, but the urgency meant more risks, which led to Dushmanta Chameera's wicket at the other end, becoming Hazlewood's fourth wicket of the evening. The Australian pacer finished with figures of 4 for 12 in 4 overs, a spell that also included 11 dot balls.

Earlier in the day, Sri Lanka's bowlers vindicated Shanaka's call to bowl first. That was chiefly led by Hasaranga and his now-famously deceptive wrong 'un, that first befuddled Aaron Finch inside the PowerPlay. Hasaranga went on to deceive Glenn Maxwell and Steve Smith too - the former with a loopy full toss and the latter with a googly - but runs came thick and fast off him. Between these wickets, Australia's essay was rebuilt by debutant Josh Inglis and BBL hotshot Ben McDermott, who went on to score his maiden T20I fifty.

Australia were going along at a good pace, on course for a big total in the vicinity of 170-180, until Hasaranga's third wicket ruffled feathers. Chamika Karunaratne ended McDermott's fine knock at 53 in an exceptional five-run over at the death, but Australia still had a shot at turning the tables. Marcus Stoinis wreaked havoc on Maheesh Theekshana and Dushmantha Chameera, taking Australia from 111 for 5 in 15 overs to 140 for 5 in 17. However, the next three exceptional overs came with the potential to re-steer the direction in which the fixture was headed.

Binura Fernando snuffed out both Stoinis and Matthew Wade off successive balls, and Chameera dismissed Starc and Cummins. Australia lost four wickets in that short space, scoring just nine runs in the last three overs to limp to 149 for 9. At the halfway stage it looked a tad under-par, but the Australian bowlers made mincemeat of that projection, securing a comfortable 20-run victory.

Brief Scores: Australia 149/9 in 20 overs (Ben McDermott 53, Marcus Stoinis 30; Wanindu Hasaranga 3-38, Binura Fernando 2-12, Chamika Karunaratne 2-22) beat Sri Lanka 122/8 in 19 overs (Pathum Nissanka 36, Dinesh Chandimal 25*; Josh Hazlewood 4-12, Adam Zampa 3-18) by 20 Runs (DLS Method)