Sri Lankan cricket team in Australia in 2016–17

Sri Lankan cricket team in Australia in 2016–17
	Australia	Sri Lanka
Dates	15 – 22 February 2017
Captains	Aaron Finch	Upul Tharanga
Twenty20 International series
Results	Sri Lanka won the 3-match series 2–1
Most runs	Michael Klinger (143)	Asela Gunaratne (140)
Most wickets	James Faulkner Adam Zampa (5)	Lasith Malinga (6)
Player of the series	Asela Gunaratne (SL)

The Sri Lanka cricket team toured Australia in February 2017 to play three Twenty20 International (T20Is) matches. ^[1] Cricket Australia confirmed the venues in August 2016 with the tour starting in Melbourne, before heading to the first-ever international cricket match to be held at Kardinia Park, Geelong with the final T20 to be held at Adelaide Oval. ^{[2] [3]} With both Steve Smith and David Warner unavailable due to the scheduling of the series against India, Aaron Finch was named as Australia's captain for the series. ^[4] Sri Lanka's T20I captain Angelo Mathews was unavailable for the tour, after suffering a hamstring injury during the second T20I against South Africa in January 2017. ^[5]

Ahead of the T20I series, there was a twenty-over tour match between Prime Minister's XI and Sri Lanka. Adam Voges captained the Prime Minister's XI side in his last international match before he retired. ^{[6] [7]} In the T20I series, Sri Lanka won the three-match T20I series 2–1. ^[8]

Squads

Australia [9]	Sri Lanka [10]
Aaron Finch (c) Pat Cummins Ben Dunk James Faulkner Travis Head Moisés Henriques Michael Klinger Chris Lynn Tim Paine (wk) Jhye Richardson Billy Stanlake Ashton Turner Andrew Tye Adam Zampa	Upul Tharanga (c) Niroshan Dickwella (wk) Asela Gunaratne Chamara Kapugedara Nuwan Kulasekara Lasith Malinga Kusal Mendis Dilshan Munaweera Sachith Pathirana Seekkuge Prasanna Lakshan Sandakan Vikum Sanjaya Dasun Shanaka Milinda Siriwardana Isuru Udana

Australia's Chris Lynn was injured prior to the series and was replaced by Ben Dunk. ^[11]

Tour match

20-over match: Prime Minister's XI v Sri Lanka

15 February 2017 (D/N) Scorecard

Prime Minister's XI 6/169 (20 overs)	v	Sri Lanka 5/170 (17.1 overs)
Sam Heazlett 58 (37) Vikum Sanjaya 3/26 (4 overs)		Niroshan Dickwella 47 (26) D'Arcy Short 2/19 (3 overs)

Sri Lanka won by 5 wickets Manuka Oval, Canberra Umpires: Andrew Crozier (Aus) and Sam Nogajski (Aus)

• Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to field.
• Harry Conway and Jason Sangha (Prime Minister's XI) both made their T20 debuts.

T20I series

1st T20I

17 February 2017 (D/N) Scorecard

Australia   6/168 (20 overs)	v	Sri Lanka 5/172 (20 overs)
Aaron Finch 43 (34) Lasith Malinga 2/29 (4 overs)		Asela Gunaratne 52 (37) Ashton Turner 2/12 (2 overs)

Sri Lanka won by 5 wickets Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne Umpires: Mick Martell (Aus) and Paul Wilson (Aus) Player of the match: Asela Gunaratne (SL)

• Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to field.
• Michael Klinger, Billy Stanlake, Ashton Turner (Aus) and Vikum Sanjaya (SL) all made their T20I debuts.
• At the age of 36, Michael Klinger became the oldest player for Australia to debut in a T20I. ^[12]
• Aaron Finch became second fastest batsman and the third Australian to reach 1,000 runs in T20Is. ^{[13] [14]}

2nd T20I

19 February 2017 (D/N) Scorecard

Australia   173 (20 overs)	v	Sri Lanka 8/176 (20 overs)
Moisés Henriques 56* (37) Nuwan Kulasekara 4/31 (4 overs)		Asela Gunaratne 84* (46) Andrew Tye 3/37 (4 overs)

Sri Lanka won by 2 wickets Kardinia Park, Geelong Umpires: Simon Fry (Aus) and Sam Nogajski (Aus) Player of the match: Asela Gunaratne (SL)

• Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to field.
• Jhye Richardson (Aus) made his T20I debut.
• Sam Nogajski (Aus) stood in his first T20I as an umpire. ^[15]
• This was the first T20I match to be played at this venue. ^[16]
• Sri Lanka made 36 runs from the final two overs, the most in a successful run-chase in a T20I. ^[17]
• This was Australia's fifth-consecutive loss at home in T20Is, their longest losing streak. ^[17]
• This was the 50th win for Sri Lanka in T20Is, becoming the third team to do so. ^[18]
• Niroshan Dickwella (SL) was given a two-match ban after he showed his dissent at an umpire's decision. He was also fined 30% of his match fee for the incident. ^[19]

3rd T20I

22 February 2017 (D/N) Scorecard

Australia   6/187 (20 overs)	v	Sri Lanka 146 (18 overs)
Michael Klinger 62 (43) Dasun Shanaka 2/27 (4 overs)		Dilshan Munaweera 37 (25) James Faulkner 3/20 (3 overs)

Australia won by 41 runs Adelaide Oval, Adelaide Umpires: Mick Martell (Aus) and Paul Wilson (Aus) Player of the match: Adam Zampa (Aus)

• Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to field.
• This was Australia's first win against Sri Lanka at home in a T20I. ^[8]

References

1. "Four nations set to tour in blockbuster 2016–17 summer". Cricket Australia. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
2. "Geelong set to host T20 international". Cricket Australia. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
3. "Geelong to host Australia-Sri Lanka T20I". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
4. "Finch named captain for SL T20I series". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 31 January 2017.
5. "Angelo Mathews unavailable for Australia tour due to injury". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
6. "Voges announces international retirement". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
7. "Sri Lankan XI warm up by thrashing PM's XI". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
8. "Zampa halts Sri Lanka charge". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
9. "Klinger, Paine in Australia's T20 squad". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
10. "Lasith Malinga picked for T20Is in Australia". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
11. "Dunk replaces injured Lynn for Sri Lanka series". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
12. "Malinga set for return against new-look Australia". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
13. Chakraborty, Paulami (17 February 2017). "Australia vs Sri Lanka, 1st T20I: Lasith Malinga's 2 on 2, Aaron Finch's career milestone and other highlights". cricketcountry.com. Retrieved 18 February 2017.
14. "Fastest to 1000 runs in T20I cricket". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 18 February 2017.
15. "Sam Nogajski to make on-field international debut in Australia's Twenty20 series against Sri Lanka". The Mercury. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
16. "Gunaratne 84* caps stunning series win for Sri Lanka". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 19 February 2017.
17. "Sri Lanka's perfect record in Australia". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 19 February 2017.
18. "Records / Twenty20 Internationals / Team records / Results summary". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 19 February 2017.
19. "ICC suspends Sri Lanka's Dickwella". cricket.com.au. Retrieved 22 February 2017.

External links

• Series home at ESPN Cricinfo