Live Updates

  • 10:52 PM IST

    LONDON: Sri Lanka threatened to upend Australia in the upset of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, but Mitchell Starc underlined, once again, his worth as a potent strike bowler to impact a collapse of five wickets for 32 runs.

    Chasing 334 after Aaron Finch scored his 14th ODI century, Sri Lanka were given a rousing start of 115 in 15.3 overs between Dimuth Karunaratne and Kusal Perera, but once Starc yorked Perera for a fiery 52 the chase began to unravel. Karunaratne battled his way to a career-best 97, and once he was out Starc returned to grab three wickets in five deliveries to snuff out Sri Lanka’s fight.

    Sri Lanka were bowled out for 247 in 45.5 overs to lose by 87 runs. Australia zoomed to the top of the points table.

  • 10:52 PM IST

    Dimuth Karunaratne: It was a good wicket. There was some seam movement, but it was still a good batting track. We bowled well in the first 25 overs. Then, Finch and Smith batted really well, but we came back strongly at the death. We got a good start with the bat. We couldn’t capitalise and when the middle-order came in, they couldn’t capitalize either and really couldn’t handle the pressure. The Australians are top-class bowlers, but we have faced them before, and we were missing a game plan against them to be honest. We lost a couple of matches because of the rain. We need to win a couple of matches, and if we can do it, we can definitely be in the top 4. We have got to get to the semi-finals and then take it step by step until the final.

  • 10:47 PM IST
    Aaron Finch: It was nice to get a couple of drives away. If my balance is on and get a few drives, that’s the key to my batting. A nice wicket. I’ve been working on keeping my balance from Ball 1 – not losing my balance. We lost a few wickets on the verge of taking the game on too much, but a couple of partnerships took us deep. Smith is really good at finding the gap and rotating the strike – looked up at the scorecard and saw he was on 25 – thought he was on 5. He just hits the ball in the gap, and that’s a great skill, especially in the beginning of the innings. It’s amazing when Maxi has a free rein like that, he can just go all out. Credit to Sri Lanka, they executed really well under pressure, otherwise I thought we were definitely getting to 350.
  • 10:33 PM IST

    IT’S A WRAP! Australia beat Sri Lanka by 87 runs to register their fourth win in World Cup 2019. Aaron Finch scored 153 and Mitchell Starc scalped four wickets.

  • 10:15 PM IST

    Sri Lanka have lost the plot after Karunaratne’s fall and Australia have moved closer to a big win.

  • 9:57 PM IST

    WICKET! Fourth wicket for Starc. The freefall of wickets continues for Sri Lanka. Kusal Mendis departs for 30.

  • 9:47 PM IST

    OUT! Starc disturbs the timber as Milinda Siriwardana departs.

  • 9:40 PM IST

    WICKET! Cummins bangs one short, Mathews tries to take him on but fails. Carey takes an easy catch.

  • 9:38 PM IST

    FOUR! Short from Starc and Mathews just times it to perfection. The fielder at fine-leg did not really spot where the ball was! Sri Lanka, meanwhile, have moved past 200.

  • 9:35 PM IST

    SIX! What a shot! Kusal Mendis has crunched that. Straight six off Starc!

Match highlights, ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 Match 20: Aaron Finch, Mitchell Starc star as Australia beat Sri Lanka by 87 runs

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Match 20 of ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 between Australia and Sri Lanka at Kennington Oval, London on Saturday.

After two washed out games, Sri Lanka will be desperate to come out all guns blazing but defending champion Australia’s depth will be hard to beat. Sri Lanka have not played a match at the World Cup since June 4, forced to split points with Bangladesh and Pakistan following two washed out games.

Sri Lanka, who won the tournament back in 1996, stands fifth with just one win — against minnows Afghanistan in a rain-hit match — from four games.

Defending champions Australia, on the other hand, have been simply unstoppable with their loss against India being the only blemish in an otherwise professional performance so far in the tournament.

The five-time winners are placed second with three wins from four games. With two fifties and a hundred, David Warner has been simply outstanding, helping Australia post 300-plus scores in the last two matches.

Editorial team of CricketCountry.