One win, one loss and one super weird dismissal
Leggie Adam Zampa was the player of the match with 3/25 from his four overs,
The Australian men’s team hit back with a 41-run, while the women collapsed to be all out against New Zealand.
But arguably the moment of the day was the dismissal of Kiwi batter Katey Martin, bowled in the most unusual of circumstances (below).
Have you ever seen anything like this?! #AUSvNZ pic.twitter.com/hy3bxUatdE
— Australian Women's Cricket Team 🏏 (@AusWomenCricket) February 22, 2017
In the men’s match leg-spinner Adam Zampa and allrounder James Faulkner both claimed three wickets as Australia avoided a T20 series whitewash before 19,326 spectators at Adelaide Oval on Wednesday night.
The Lankans, seeking 188 for victory, were bowled out for 146 in 18 overs – but they still won the three-game series 2-1.
Sri Lanka’s chase was given early impetus by Dilshan Munaweera, who smacked 37 from 25 balls, but from 0-41 in the fourth over the tourists lost traction and slid to 4-76 in the 10th.
Australian captain Aaron Finch – who had earlier cracked a half-century along with opening partner Michael Klinger – used constant bowling changes to unsettle Sri Lanka.
Finch deployed seven different bowlers in the initial 10 overs and four of them had wickets by the midpoint.
From then, Sri Lanka perished in a do-or-die mission with only Milinda Siriwardana (35 from 27 balls) offering resistance.
Man of the match Zampa, recalled into the XI at the expense of Andrew Tye, was the chief destroyer with 3-25 from four tidy overs, including the prized scalp oman of the series Asela Gunaratne, for four.
Faulkner took 3-20 from three overs, paceman Jhye Richardson (1-38 from three) recovered from being slapped for 20 runs from his opening over while Travis Head took 1-16 from two overs.
Earlier, Klinger top-scored with 62 from 43 deliveries and Finch posted 53 from 32 balls – the latter cashing in a Sri Lankan slip: before he had scored Munaweera turfed a simple catching chance from the fifth ball of the innings.
Klinger top scored for Australia
The opening pair put on a brisk 79 run partnership, laying a solid platform for Ben Dunk (28 from 21 balls) and Travis Head (30 from 16) to produce valuable cameos.
Australia posted 6-187, despite losing 4-8 from the last 11 balls.
Zampa was pleased with his performance, adding he “would like to cement myself more in the team”.
Finch was pleased to finish off the series with a win.
“We played some fantastic cricket tonight, it was probably our most complete performance out of the three (games),” Finch said.
In the earlier game, Southern Stars captain Meg Lanning said she expected her team to learn some harsh lessons after being bowled out for the nation’s lowest women’s Twenty20 total in a humiliating loss to New Zealand.
The Australians were dismissed for a paltry 66 in a 47-run loss that handed the Kiwis a 2-1 series triumph.
All over in Adelaide. Congrats to the @WHITE_FERNS – simply too good in this series. We now head to NZ for the ODI series #AUSvNZ pic.twitter.com/7FRwajvZ7a
— Australian Women's Cricket Team 🏏 (@AusWomenCricket) February 22, 2017
Chasing 114 to win the series decider, Australia’s top order crumbled to be 5-9 within five overs.
The collapse followed a similar slide of 6-12 in game two of the series in Geelong last Sunday.
“We have got to learn from it. It’s two games in a row now that the same sort of thing has happened,” Lanning said.
“Very similar to Geelong unfortunately, we didn’t really learn our lessons well enough.
“Full credit to New Zealand, they bowled really well and stopped us getting any momentum.
“But we have got to be able to find a way to keep the scoreboard ticking and make sure we don’t give away easy wickets.”
Australia’s previous lowest T20 score in a completed innings was 73 all out against the Kiwis in 2010.
Only two Australians – Alex Blackwell (30no) and Alyssa Healy (12) – reached double-figures.
– with AAP
