Confident Sri Lanka seeks series win

Geelong: Sri Lanka will head into the second Twenty20 International, that will be played at the Simonds Stadium in Geelong on Sunday (February 18), high on confidence after clinching a nail-biting last-ball victory against Australia in the first game.

The home side succumbed to a five-wicket defeat on Friday after Chamara Kapugedera smashed a boundary off the last ball to give Sri Lanka its fourth win on Australian soil in as many games.

While the trio of Niroshan Dickwella, Dilshan Munaweera, and Asela Gunaratne kept the side on track in the 169-run chase with some aggressive hitting, it took the calm head of Kapugedera to take it over the line.

Sri Lanka -- who is in Australia without Angelo Mathews, the regular skipper -- was boosted by the return of Lasith Malinga. The 33-year-old did his reputation no harm, taking two wickets in two balls in the latter part of Australia's innings to dent the base set by Aaron Finch, the captain, and Michael Klinger, the debutant.

It initially seemed that Australia -- playing without Steven Smith, David Warner, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, all on tour in India -- would go on to post a total of close to 200 after the openers had added 76 runs in 10.3 overs.

But once Seekkuge Prasanna and Lakshan Sandakan, the spinners, took charge, Sri Lanka managed to turn the tide in its favour. The pair grabbed two wickets, conceding 53 runs in their quota of eight overs. The visiting side will hope the spinners can carry the good work forward as it seeks a series win.

Adam Zampa and Ashton Turner, the spinners, who had their own say in the match, lacked support from the pacers, who allowed Sri Lanka's top order to get off to a flying start. While Australia hit 13 boundaries, Sri Lanka managed 21, with Billy Stanlake going for 42 runs off his three overs.

Teams from

Australia: Aaron Finch (c), Tim Paine (wk), Ben Dunk (wk), Travis Head, Michael Klinger, Ashton Turner, James Faulkner, Moises Henriques, Pat Cummins, Billy Stanlake, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa, Jhye Richardson.

Sri Lanka: Upul Tharanga (c), Niroshan Dickwella (wk), Kusal Mendis (wk), Chamara Kapugedara, Dilshan Munaweera, Asela Gunaratne, Seekkuge Prasanna, Dasun Shanaka, Isuru Udana, Sachith Pathirana, Milinda Siriwardana, Vikum Sanjaya, Nuwan Kulasekara, Lasith Malinga.

Stats and trivia

• Geelong joins Cairns as the only non-capital Australian cities to host the national team in an international match.
• If Sri Lanka win, they will be three from three series wins in Twenty20 matches in Australia.

Match facts
Sunday February 19, 2017
Start time 1920 local (0820 GMT)