Sri Lanka elect to bat
With the dust just starting to settle after such a remarkable start to theseries in Dambulla - a week of full of bizarre controversy and thrillingcricket - Sri Lanka won the toss in the third one-dayer against Australia, and elected to bat first on a
The Wisden Bulletin by Charlie Austin
25-Feb-2004
Toss Sri Lanka elected to bat against Australia
Scorecard
Scorecard
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Chaminda Vaas was Sri Lanka's hero in the previous match |
With the dust just starting to settle after such a remarkable start to the
series in Dambulla - a week of full of bizarre controversy and thrilling
cricket - Sri Lanka won the toss in the third one-dayer against Australia, and
elected to bat first on a what appeared to be a typically flat Premadasa pitch.
Although the surface, once again, is bound to suit the spinners, a muggy
atmosphere and overcast conditions promises more assistance for the swing
bowlers. Sri Lanka therefore bolstered their pace bowling resources,
recalling Nuwan Zoysa for his first international game in 18 months.
Zoysa replaced Romesh Kaluwitharana, who was run out for 12 and 0 in the
first two games. Kumar Sangakkara takes over the gloves for the first time
since the 2003 World Cup.
Australia made one change to the team that lost to Sri Lanka by just one run last Sunday, resting Brett Lee to give Michael Kasprowicz his first game of
the series. With three games scheduled for the next five days, the change
was motivated purely by Australia's rotational selection policy.
Sri Lanka 1 Sanath Jayasuriya, 2 Marvan Atapattu (capt), 3 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 6 Russel Arnold, 7 Upul Chandana, 8 Kumar Dharmasena, 9 Chaminda Vaas, 10 Nuwan Zoysa, 11 Muttiah Muralitharan.
Australia1 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 2 Matthew Hayden, 3 Ricky Ponting (Capt), 4 Damien Martyn, 5 Andrew Symonds, 6 Michael Clarke, 7 Michael Bevan, 8 Ian Harvey, 9 Brad Hogg, 10 Michael Kasprowicz, 11 Jason Gillespie.