Monday, November 29, 1999

Australia, Sri Lanka to fight for semi-final berth

News posted by www.newsinfoline.com

Bridgetown (Barbados), May 8 (IANS) Australia and Sri Lanka would be looking to seal a semi-final berth when they meet in their second Super Eights match of the World Twenty20 here Sunday.Australia crushed India by 49 runs while Sri Lanka overwhelmed the West Indies by 57 runs in their first Super Eights match.After handing India, the 2007 champions, a crushing defeat Saturday, Australia's confidence will be sky high and a win against Sri Lanka will land them a semi-final berth.The World Twenty20 is one trophy which is missing from their illustrious cabinet and the Australians, unbeaten in the tournament so far, will fight hard to take it home this time round.The Australians were dominant with bat and ball against India and were on a sixer-hitting spree led by openers David Warner (72 from 42 deliveries) and Shane Watson (54 from 32), who shared 13 sixes between them. In all, the Australians smashed 16 sixers during the innings.Dirk Nannes (3-25)and Shaun Tait (3-21) then combined to dispatch India for 135.'I believe we have the best two openers in Twenty20 cricket in the world at the moment,' captain Michael Clarke said.'I think they bat fantastically together, left-hand, right-hand combination, both very aggressive but if they need to take their time they don't seem distressed too much.''They are two wonderful players and I am blessed to have them on my team.'Sri Lanka, on the other hand, have been hit by the injury of spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan who had to fly back home from the middle of the tournament.Sri Lanka's form in the tournament has been inconsistent. They began with a narrow loss to the New Zealand followed by a rain-affected victory over Zimbabwe. But they can take heart from their Friday's win over the West Indies.With the exception of Mahela Jayawardene, who has scores of 81, 100 and 98 in his three innings, the other experienced batsmen have struggled with even Sri Lankans criticising the players for being 'rusty and tired'.The Sri Lankas need to get their act together and prepare themselves against a quality Australian pace-attack if they do not want to meet same fate as that of the Indians.

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