Starc's streak and Finch's oversight

Has Mitchell Starc been so dangerous with the new ball on this tour because Sri Lanka's openers have been dreadful? Or have they looked dreadful because Starc has been so good? If it was the chicken-or-the-egg question, the answer would be an egg-and-chicken sandwich. In other words, a bit of both. Twice in the Test series, Starc struck in the first over of an innings and he has now done so twice in the ODIs as well, first in the opening match in Colombo and now in Dambulla. This time his pace and good length did for Danushka Gunathilaka, who played on. It continued Sri Lanka's wretched record of opening partnerships in these Tests and ODIs against Australia - their highest so far is 12, set in the previous ODI.

There was a bit of wind around in Dambulla and in the third over of the day it blew one of the bails off at the striker's end while Dilshan was ready to face Starc. Nobody seemed to be bothered by it, though - certainly not Dilshan, who flicked a boundary through square leg. However, under Law 23 it should have been called a dead ball. The Law states that either umpire shall call and signal dead ball when: "one or both bails fall from the striker's wicket before the striker has had the opportunity of playing the ball".

Aaron Finch loomed as a danger man in the chase and had struck three fours and a six on his way to 30 off 29 balls when he was given out lbw off the bowling of Amila Aponso. Aleem Dar raised the finger and Finch walked down for a chat to his partner Shaun Marsh. However, Marsh had been backing up to the side of the pitch and was hardly in an ideal position to provide advice. The upshot was that Finch did not ask for a review. Had he done so he would have been reprieved: replays showed the ball was going on with the arm to miss leg stump.

Kusal Perera's lightning hands effected a couple of brilliant stumpings during the Test series, but this time perhaps he was trying to be just a little too quick. With Australia still needing 49 runs with six wickets in hand, Sri Lanka were desperate for a breakthrough when Matthew Wade lunged and missed a delivery from Seekkuge Prasanna. Perera gloved the ball and went to whip the bails off - but missed. Had he done so, Wade would have been out, but by the time Perera's second attempt had knocked the bails off, Wade had the tiniest fraction of boot behind the line and was safe.