So Ireland made it through to the Super Eights stage of the World Twenty20 and Australia did not. They may have been a shade unfortunate to have been drawn in the strongest group in the first stage, but after their drubbing by West Indies on Saturday, Australia were deservedly beaten again last night, with an over to spare, by a Sri Lanka side showing greater invention and composure.
While the rest of the world’s leading teams take aim for the final at Lord’s on June 21, Australia will retire to their new base in Leicester, licking their wounds and kicking their heels. They do not have another game scheduled until they travel to Hove to play Sussex on June 24.
While the relevance to the forthcoming Ashes series may be limited, Australia’s tour could hardly have begun in worse fashion, with these two defeats after the expulsion of Andrew Symonds last week. They have suffered humbling defeats before in Twenty20 cricket, losing to Zimbabwe in this competition in 2007, but they recovered in time to reach the semi-finals. This time there will be no reprieve.
“I can’t tell you how disappointed we are,” Ricky Ponting, the Australia captain, said. “If there’s one positive, it’s that we have a bit more time to prepare for the Ashes.”
It will not be the only time in the next few years that Australia rue their lack of spin-bowling resources in the post-Shane Warne era. On a dry pitch, their batsmen were throttled by the unorthodox spin of Muttiah Muralitharan, the sorcerer, and Ajantha Mendis, his talented apprentice.
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Australia’s lower order scrapped their way to 159 for nine, but Tillekeratne Dilshan played a princely innings of 53 from 32 balls and Kumar Sangakkara, the Sri Lanka captain, saw his side home with an assured 55 from 42 balls. Nathan Hauritz and Michael Clarke, Australia’s spin bowlers, performed respectably, but they were not in the same class as their opposite numbers.
Dilshan, the opening batsman, was one of the stars of the recent Indian Premier League. He was particularly dismissive of Shane Watson, who was greeted with a volley of four boundaries in his first over. Some were achieved through power, such as the thump over mid-on; others owed more to subtlety of touch, such as the dinky sweep to fine leg that followed. Dilshan added 62 in seven overs with Sangakkara before he was bowled by Clarke’s first ball.
There followed a period of retrenchment as Clarke and Hauritz conceded 17 runs in four overs. The required run-rate climbed to nine an over, with 54 required from the last six, when Sangakkara swept Hauritz for six from successive balls.
Jehan Mubarak offered his captain solid support. When 13 were still needed from ten balls, Mubarak swung Brett Lee over mid-wicket for six, then drove him over mid-off for four. The final blow came when Mitchell Johnson bowled a leg-side wide.
Ponting and Watson had given their side a decent start with the bat, racing to 47 for one in five overs before Mendis was introduced. This was their first encounter with Mendis, 24, who turns the ball both ways by flicking it with his fingers out of the front of his hand. With his sixth ball, he bowled Ponting for 25, as he backed away to drive. Watson followed in his next over, leg-before, and Mendis later trapped Mike Hussey leg-before to finish with figures of three for 20. “He’s a unique sort of bowler,” Ponting said. “We’ve had a look at videos of him, but today he got the better of us.”
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Muralitharan was similarly restrictive until his final over was hit for 21 as Mitchell Johnson tried to bail out his top order with an unbeaten 28 from 13 balls. But Australia’s diffidence against spin had already cost them dear. It was a most un-Australian approach to batting and it has resulted in the unthinkable, a global tournament without Australia in its final stages.
Australia
S R Watson lbw b Mendis 22
D A Warner c Dilshan b Mathews 0
*R T Ponting b Mendis 25
†B J Haddin b Malinga 16
M J Clarke c and b Udana 11
D J Hussey c Jayasuriya b Udana 28
M E K Hussey lbw b Mendis 1
M G Johnson not out 28
B Lee b Malinga 15
N M Hauritz c Sangakkara b Malinga 4
N W Bracken not out 4
Extras (w 5) 5
Total (9 wkts, 20 overs) 159
Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-48, 3-59, 4-74, 5-79, 6-94, 7-135, 8-151, 9-155.
Bowling: Mathews 2-0-10-1; Jayasuriya 2-0-17-0; Udana 4-0-47-2; Malinga 4-0-36-3; Mendis 4-0-20-3; Muralitharan 4-0-29-0.
Sri Lanka
T M Dilshan b Clarke 53
S T Jayasuriya c Warner b Lee 2
*†K C Sangakkara not out 55
D P M D Jayawardena c Bracken b Hauritz 9
L P C Silva c Ponting b Lee 11
J Mubarak not out 21
Extras (lb 1, w 6, nb 2) 9
Total (4 wkts, 19 overs) 160
A D Mathews, I Udana, M Muralitharan, S L Malinga and B A W Mendis did not bat.
Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-81, 3-98, 4-127.
Bowling: Lee 4-0-39-2; Johnson 2-0-17-0; Bracken 4-0-33-0; Watson 2-0-24-0; Hauritz 4-0-27-1; Clarke 3-0-19-1.
Umpires: B F Bowden (New Zealand) and I J Gould.