Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to bat first in the first T20I against Pakistan being played in Rawalpindi.

Bangladesh’s second visit to Australia and their first women’s ODI in the country began on a disappointing note as Australia ran out quick and convincing victors.

Annabel Sutherland showed why she is regarded as one of the most versatile fast-bowling allrounders in the world by taking 4 for 30. She kept the batters on their toes by varying the lengths and speeds as Bangladesh were bowled out for 166. Phoebe Litchfield’s  swift 77 helped Australia canter home with 24.2 overs and seven wickets to spare to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

The win meant Australia extended their unbeaten record in ODIs at the Allan Border Field in Brisbane to 22 games.

Bangladesh might have put up an even lower total if not for an intent-filled innings from Ritu Moni.  Batting at No. 7, she hit two fours in her first four balls following a phase where Bangladesh scored only 35 in about 15 overs.

Asked to bat first, Bangladesh were stung first ball when Megan Schutt got one off a length to hoop in big to have Fargana Hoque caught at slip. In her next over, Schutt trapped the other opener Sarmin Sultana lbw to become only the third Australia woman to 150 ODI wickets.

When Sutherland’s bouncer cramped Sharmin Akhter for room, leaving her unable to get any control on the pull, Bangladesh were truly under the cosh, having lost three wickets inside the first powerplay.

That soon became 48 for 4, which prompted captain Nigar Sultana, perhaps Bangladesh’s best batter, to go into a shell. She hardly looked to score from that point and was happy to defend and merely prevent further wickets from falling.

The ploy was evident from the fact that Nigar didn’t put Sutherland under pressure when she bowled three successive no-balls in the 12th over. What’s more, unaware of the free hit on offer, she ducked under a short ball as well. Shorna Akter, too, curtailed her aggressive instincts to support her captain.

Bangladesh crawled at three runs per over through the middle phase before Tahlia McGrath had Nigar caught behind for 29 off 83 balls. Nigar perhaps half-referred to her own innings when, after the game, she said that Bangladesh “need to be cautious against the new ball and get the intent right”.

As soon as she fell, Moni and Shorna started to put back the pressure on Australia’s spinners. Moni fetched a couple of sweeps from outside off to hit them through midwicket. Shorna also used her feet more frequently.

Moni looked good to score her second half-century in ODIs but was hampered by cramps. That hindered her running, and eventually she was run-out for 45 off 63 balls. Sutherland was generous with her use of the back-of-the-hand slower ones from then on to keep the rest of the batters on a leash.

Australia were never going to be challenged in a paltry chase of 167, and Georgia Voll and Litchfield hit five fours in the first five overs of the chase to get them going.

That is when Bangladesh found another performer of note. Seventeen-year-old Habiba Islam, on ODI debut, bowled a sharp bouncer which got rid of Voll. Habiba, who made her T20I debut against India in 2024 as a 15-year-old, got the ball to nibble around at high pace. While her first spell was expensive, she returned in the middle overs to get Beth Mooney caught brilliantly at midwicket. She bowled the length ball outside leg and got it to move in late, and Mooney could only spoon it to Fargana, who ran in from the circle and completed a diving catch.

But between these two bits of celebration for Habiba and Bangladesh, Litchfield had almost killed the chase. She moved around the crease to hit Marufa Aklter for three successive fours in the seventh over of the chase, and then muscled Habiba over mid-on for the only six in the match.

She played her trademark reverse sweep off Nahida Akter and soon got to fifty off just 35 balls. Her second-wicket stand with Ellyse Perry was worth 89 off 67 balls with Perry contributing only 15 off 23. Until the time Litchfield stepped out and drove Rabeya Khan straight to cover, it looked as if she would complete a century even with so few runs to get.

Scores:
Australia Women 168 for 3 in 25.4 overs  (Phoebe Litchfield 77, Ellyse Perry 26*, Annabel Sutherland 25*;  Habiba Islam 2-36) beat Bangladesh Women 166 in 49.4 overs (Sharmin Akhter 24, Nigar Sultana 29, Shorna Akter 21, Ritu Moni 45; Megan Schutt 2-19,  Ammabel Sutherland 4-30) by seven wickets

[Cricinfo]

by Rex Clementine

Sri Lanka’s Test captain Dhananjaya de Silva has done an Ian Botham. No, not by pulling off a miraculous victory against Australia at Headingley, but by resigning a minute before he was sacked.

The writing had been on the wall for DDS after he got his sums horribly wrong during the recent home Test series against India. His defensive approach from day one left Sri Lanka chasing the game rather than dictating terms and the hosts eventually surrendered the series.

There had also been growing criticism of DDS’s inability to lift the side when the chips were down. His laid back attitude, particularly the sight of him cracking jokes with team mates in the SSC dressing room balcony while Sri Lanka were following on, did not go down well with the cricket establishment.

Not that DDS was doing anything out of character. By nature, he is a relaxed, easy going individual who loves his video games and rarely seems to have a worry in the world. The mistake was made by those who handed such a character the Test captaincy and then expected him to turn into a fire breathing leader overnight.

DDS was so chilled out that even SLC’s photographers had reason to complain during the India Test series when the official team photograph was being taken.

Sri Lanka have been guilty of failing to groom leaders and in recent years the captaincy has too often fallen into someone’s lap by default rather than through careful planning. The result has been a revolving door of captains, with little thought given to succession.

DDS’s successor, Kusal Mendis, is no Mike Brearley or Ian Chappell when it comes to tactical nous, but to his credit, he has worked hard in recent years to shed his bad boy image and become a more responsible cricketer.

More than anything, Mendis has discovered consistency with the bat. Equally impressive in the eyes of the authorities has been his willingness to shoulder responsibility. He has never been one to duck a challenge, even when the workload has threatened to become overwhelming.

Currently, Mendis keeps wicket in both white ball formats while batting at the top of the order. With the additional burden of becoming Sri Lanka’s all format captain, he is set to be relieved of wicketkeeping duties in Test cricket.

The selectors are now on the lookout for a replacement ahead of the Pakistan assignment, although they are unlikely to turn to Niroshan Dickwella again. That particular chapter, it seems, has been closed.

Meanwhile, Chairman of Selectors Kapila Wijegunawardene has broken his silence over Wanindu Hasaranga’s omission, confirming that the star leg-spinner had indeed been dropped rather than sidelined through injury.

Wijegunawardene made little attempt to sugar coat the selectors’ disappointment with a player whose immense talent has not always translated into performances befitting his reputation.

“Hasaranga has not lived up to expectations, to be frank,” Wijegunawardene said.

“The player understands that too. We had expected a lot of him. His knowledge of the game is immense and he has much more to offer, and we are confident he will stage a comeback,” Wijegunawardene added.