SL XI 83 in 20.5 overs, Live Cricket Updates, Australia vs Sri Lanka XI, 3-day tour game, P Sara Oval

Hello and welcome to CricketCountry’s live cricket blog of the Australia’s first and only tour game.

Hello and welcome to CricketCountry’s live cricket blog of the Australia’s first and only tour game match ahead of their three-Test series against Sri Lanka, starting from July 26. Australia will be playing Sri Lanka XI at P Sara Oval. This game will be crucial for Australia in order to adapt to the pitch conditions in Sri Lanka. Australia are currently leading with 202 runs against the home side. Steve O’Keefe and Jackson Bird are currently batting and have shared a 15 run partnership for 15 run for the tenth wicket. This is the third and final day of the warm-up match. O’Keefe is currently batting on 62 and will be looking to gather as many runs as he can in the first session of Day 3.

Live Cricket Score & Updates: Sri Lanka XI 83 | Overs 20.5 | BATTING: Vimukthi Perera 2 (10): End of thrilling match, thanks to Steve O’Keefe who ruled the game till the end. His unbeaten knock of 78 and 5 wickets has surely boosted the morale of Australia ahead of their 1st Test. Hr could be key for the visitors. As for SL XI, they will be upset as they were unable to put up the required the runs on board.

Live Cricket Score & Updates: Sri Lanka XI /8 | Overs 15 | BATTING: Dilhara Fernando , Nisala Tharaka : To what seemed like two wickets turned out to be 6 wickets down and the game can end anytime soon for SL XI. Steve O’Keefe is on a roll with already 4 wickets in his kitty. And just when the the game could take some turns it is looking to be the end for SL XI.

Live Cricket Score & Updates: Sri Lanka XI 78/8 | Overs 15 | BATTING: Dilhara Fernando 15 (21), Nisala Tharaka 0 (2): To what seemed like two wickets turned out to be 6 wickets down and the game can end anytime soon for SL XI. Steve O’Keefe is on a roll with already 4 wickets in his kitty. And just when the the game could take some turns it is looking to be the end for SL XI.

Live Cricket Score & Updates: Sri Lanka XI 12/2 | Overs 4 | BATTING: Shehan Jayasuriya 6 (10), Asela Gunaratne 5 (6): Mitchell Starc is off the mark with two wickets already. He got off the opening batsman Oshada Fernando and Manoj Sarathchandra. Sri Lanka XI were not expecting this start and will want to build strong partnership to reach the target of 246. Jackson Bird is also bowling the perfect length restricting the runs and not allowing SL XI to achieve their target.

Live Cricket Score & Updates: Australians 474 | Overs 132.3 | BATTING: Steve O’Keefe 78 (139): Australia have ended their innings at 474 runs and are leading by 245 runs. It was ana amazing display with the bat as Australia’s Steve O’Keefe hammered a few runs and remained unbeaten at 78. Joe Burns and skipper Steven Smith also showed some skills with the bat and secured half-centuries as well. Mitchell Starc also added his valuable 45 runs complimenting O’Keefe for a while on crease. Sri Lanka have a task on hand as this is Day 3 and they need to win by 246 runs against the visitors.

Australia had a good outing on Day 2. All the batsman had starts but failed to convert them into big scores. Skipper Steven Smith along with Steve O’Keefe completed their half centuries. It is quite evident that the pitch is favoring the spinners. Shehan Jayasuriya had a good outing  as he picked up five wickets in Australia’s first innings. O’Keefe too picked up five wickets in the first innings. He is proving to be a positive prospect on this tour as he has proved handy with both bat and ball.

Squads:

Australia: Shaun Marsh, Joe Burns, Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith (c), Adam Voges, Mitch Marsh, Peter Nevill (wk), Mitchell Starc, Stephen O’Keefe, Nathan Lyon, Jackson Bird, Nathan Coulter-Nile (12th man to be named).

Sri Lanka Cricket Board XI: Madawa Warnapura, Osanda Fernando, Manoj Sarathchandra (wk), Asela Gunarathna, Shehan Jayasuriya, Milinda Siriwardana (c), Dasun Shanaka, Chathuranga Silva, Nisala Tharaka, Vimukthi Perera, Dilhara Fernando. Stand-by players: Lasith Embuldeniya, Chamika Karunarathna