SL opt to bat against defending champs Australia

Sri Lanka chose to bat v Australia

Six-time champions Australia will get their T20 World Cup campaign underway in the field after Chamari Athapaththu chose to bat first on a warm afternoon in Sharjah. Sri Lanka became the first team to play two matches at the tournament, less than 48 hours apart. They lost their opener to Pakistan and have had an opportunity to suss out the Sharjah surface, which is slow, low and dry. This match is being played on a surface with significantly more green grass on it than Thursday’s strip.

Given the conditions, Australia sprung an immediate surprise by choosing neither Grace Harris not Alana King but instead opted for an extra seamer in Darcie Brown. That still gives them spin options in Sophie Molineux, Georgia Wareham, and Ashleigh Gardner.

Sri Lanka made one change to their XI from the first game and brought back experienced left-arm spinner Inoka Ranaweera, who replaced Sachini Nisansala. Their batting line-up, who could only muster 85 runs against Pakistan, is unchanged ahead of what is their toughest task this tournament. Sri Lanka have never beaten Australia in a T20I.

Australia: 1 Alyssa Healy (capt & wk), 2 Beth Mooney, 3 Ellyse Perry, 4 Ashleigh Gardner, 5 Phoebe Litchfield, 6 Tahlia McGrath, 7 Georgia Wareham, 8 Annabel Sutherland, 9 Sophie Molineux, 10 Megan Schutt, 11 Darcie Brown

Sri Lanka: 1 Vishmi Gunaratne, 2 Chamari Athapaththu (capt), 3 Harshitha Samarawickrama, 4 Kavisha Dilshari, 5 Nilakshika Silva, 6 Hasini Perera, 7 Anushka Sanjeewani (wk), 8 Sugandika Kumari, 9 Inoshi Priyadharshani, 10 Udeshika Prabodhani, 11 Inoka Ranaweera

Firdose Moonda is ESPNcricinfo’s correspondent for South Africa and women’s cricket

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