Time for the presentation:
Angelo Mathews, also the Man of the Match: Chandimal and Kusal batted brilliantly upfront, to set the platform. It wasn't the easiest wicket to bat on so I batted till the 46th over. It was a good cricketing wicket, even though it spun. We needed that win and Aponso was brilliant, amazing and he bowled with a lot of effort. We've seen the likes of Kusal Mendis, de Silva and they are young and can go a long way.
Steven Smith: We didn't excite well enough with the ball or in the field today. Credit to SL for batting well and I thought 250 was par and they crossed it easily. Aponso bowls well, quite similar to Herath, some skid on and some turn. Some of our batsmen got starts…There's always pressure playing away from home and some of the guys have adapted and hopefully we can improve. Faulkner bowled nice today, the damage was already done when he took the hat-trick.
That's all from the second ODI in Colombo. do join us again for the third ODI on August 28, in Dambulla. For today you can still enjoy the ODI at The Rose Bowl where Pakistan have set England 261 to chase. Until next time, goodbye and good luck from Vishal and George.
9.52pm That's a collective performance from SL to make it 1-1. The first innings saw a lot of momentum shifts with three fifties and three wickets for each of Starc, Faulkner (hat-trick) and Zampa. In Australia's chase, SL made sure they got the more dangerous batsmen out of the way early before Mathew Wade's career-best 76. But the asking rate kept creeping up and the SL spinners did the rest. Four wickets for Aponso in only his second ODI after Thisara Perera had done the early damage. An 82-run win for SL and the series is level.
Chris: "I really think Aponso could Herath's replacement long term at test level watching the way he has bowled in this match and with his first-class figures as well."
Russell: "How is that the Aussies haven't hit 1 SIX in this match? Most of these players have T20 experience so why haven't they applied it here when urgently needed?"
JP Faulkner lbw b Aponso 13 (29m 19b 1x4 0x6) SR: 68.42
END OF OVER:47 | 4 Runs | AUS: 206/9 (83 runs required from 18 balls, RR: 4.38, RRR: 27.66)
- Nathan Lyon4 (6b)
- James Faulkner13 (17b)
- Seekkuge Prasanna8-1-48-1
- Amila Aponso9-0-18-3
A slip comes in
END OF OVER:46 | 1 Run 1 Wkt | AUS: 202/9 (87 runs required from 24 balls, RR: 4.39, RRR: 21.75)
- James Faulkner13 (17b)
- Nathan Lyon0 (0b)
- Amila Aponso9-0-18-3
- Seekkuge Prasanna7-1-44-1
Lyon the last man
A Zampa c Dilshan b Aponso 5 (17m 16b 0x4 0x6) SR: 31.25