(Cricket news) The Sri Lanka tour of Australia ended well for the visitors with a victory in the 5th and final T20 match. The hosts ended their 9 match reign over the Lankans and completed a 4-1 victory in the series. Sri Lanka defeated Australia by five wickets as the batters finally stood up to take the team through the match.

Australia won the toss and chose to bat first as the openers failed to hit a single boundary in their short stay at the crease. Captain Aaron Finch went for the biggy against 

Dushmantha Chameera but fell short as Lahiru Kumara ran a few metres to dismiss the batter. Ben McDermott departed in the next over as he attempted to lift the ball to legside but an outside edge lifted the ball towards the offside as Pathum Nissanka had a slight collision with Charith Asalanka over the catch but held the ball safely which brought in Glenn Maxwell. 

Maxwell and Josh Inglis put together a 43 run partnership as the team looked back in form. Chameera bowled a 141 km/ hour bouncer to Inglis which stunned the batter as it was a simple caught and bowled which again put the hosts in trouble. After a few strong hits, Marcus Stoinis was caught by Chamika Karunaratne who had to dive forward to hold the ball and three balls later it was Maxwell’s turn to depart.

The score was 84-5 in 13 overs as Daniel Sams and Matthew Wade had a huge responsibility resting over their shoulders. Wade started his assault with two reverse sweeps and took on the bowlers as Sams too joined in with a couple of hits but it was the wicketkeeper who completed his task. From the 16th to 18th over, it was Australia who were ruling the Lankan bowlers as Wade and Sams hit 41 runs in 18 balls; 17 runs were hit in the last 12 balls as the target was set to 155 in 20 overs.

Sri Lanka batters suffered a setback in the 3rd over when Pathum Nissanka got dismissed in the 4th over, the top run scorer of the series could only score 13 from 8 balls. Kusal Mendis did not give up the fight as he kept the runs coming even though the next 3 wickets fell in the space of 9 overs. Kamil Mishara was unlucky to be run out on his debut without scoring as another debutant Janith Liyanage suffered the same fate.

Sri Lankan captain, Dasun Shanaka did not let down the team as he scored without taking risks while Mendis hit the ball harder in the death overs as they had to take the team till the end. They needed 9 runs off the final over to avoid a series whitewash and Kane Richardson was brought in to deliver it for the hosts. The first two balls yielded two runs as it was Australia that looked on the winning side but a huge six off a bouncer by Shanaka eased the pressure, in the next ball it was again pressure for the Lankans as the captain was clean bowled. Richardson could not complete the over due to an injury as Sams was brought in for the last two deliveries which needed just one run, Karunaratne walked and hit the ball over mid wicket for a single as the team ended the series with a much needed win.

Australia: 154/6 in 20 overs

Sri Lanka: 155/5 in 20 overs

Player of the match: Kusal Mendis, 69* off 58 balls (5×4, 6×1)

Player of the series: Glen Maxwell (138 runs in 5 matches and one wicket)

Also read: Venkatesh Iyer and Suryakumar Yadav lead India to 17-run win over West Indies