Defeat leaves Aussies with much time to kill

Australia’s six-wicket defeat to Sri Lanka at Trent Bridge leaves much of the squad an unwanted two-week void to fill before their Ashes tour proper begins.

The 50-over world champions succumbed to their opponents with a Mitchell Johnson wide, typifying undisciplined bowling which included five other wides and two no balls.

‘‘The attitude around the group was great coming into the tournament, and we had some very good form in the warm-up matches,’’ the Australia skipper said.

‘‘But the way we’ve played in the last two games, we’ve made way too many mistakes.

You just can’t afford to do that against good teams.

‘‘We had a good partnership going early on today. But we lost one wicket, then another on top of that.

‘‘The spinners were able to come on and dictate to us, because we lost wickets in a row.

‘‘We did a reasonable job to get to 160, I thought.

‘‘But then once again with the ball, there were too many extras. When you’re making mistakes with the ball to good players, they’ll make you pay.

It has been our mistakes that have let us down.’’ Australia have now lost their last five Twenty20 internationals; last night’s defeat coming on the back of Saturday’s drubbing by West Indies.

Sri Lanka’s mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis played a crucial role with three for 20 in four overs to restrict Australia to 159 for nine.

Ponting was quick to praise the 24-year-old who was bowling against Australia for the first time.

‘‘He is a unique kind of bowler,’’ he added. ‘‘But in a Twenty20 game, you have to take the challenge up to the bowlers. Today, he got the better of us.

‘‘We knew their spinners would be the most difficult for us to face, and he’s certainly had a big impact on the game.

‘‘It was probably the biggest difference in the game, the fact that their spinners did dictate to us through the middle of our innings.

‘‘A lot of their guys have been playing Twenty20 over last few months, but we’ve had a few guys at the IPL as well.

‘‘It’s irrelevant really. We knew what we had to do and unfortunately we haven’t been good enough to do it.’’ Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara, whose unbeaten 55 saw his side home, differed on the importance of the Indian Premier League.

‘‘It’s been a wonderful experience for everybody. We have about 13 Sri Lankan players in the IPL, a few more going in next year hopefully,’’ he said.

‘‘They are rubbing shoulders with some of the greats of the game, they’re learning from that experience; they’re learning to innovate.”

Scoreboard

Australia v Sri Lanka At Trent Bridge

Australia Innings

S R Watson lbw b Mendis .....................22

D A Warner c Dilshan b Mathews .......... 0

R T Ponting b Mendis ..........................25

B J Haddin b Malinga ..........................16

M J Clarke c & b Udana ......................11

D J Hussey c Jayasuriya b Udana ........28

M E Hussey lbw b Mendis .................... 1

M G Johnson not out ..........................28

B Lee b Malinga .....................15

N M Hauritz c Sangakkara b Malinga .... 4

N W Bracken not out .......................... 4

Extras (w5 pens 0)....................... 5

Total 9 wkts Innings Complete (20 overs)..159

Fall: 1-1 2-48 3-59 4-74 5-79 6-94 7-135 8-151 9-155

Mathews 2-0-10-1. Jayasuriya 2-0-17-0.

Udana 4-0-47-2. Malinga 4-0-36-3. Mendis 4-0-20-3. Muralitharan 4-0-29-0.

Sri Lanka Innings

T M Dilshan b Clarke ...........................53

S T Jayasuriya c Warner b Lee .............. 2

K C Sangakkara not out .....................55

D P Jayawardene c Bracken b Hauritz .. 9

L P Silva c Ponting b Lee .......................11

J Mubarak not out ..............................21

Extras (lb1 w6 nb2 pens 0).......... 9

Total 4 wkts (19 overs)........160

Fall: 1-19 2-81 3-98 4-127

Did Not Bat: A D Mathews, I Udana, M Muralitharan, S L Malinga, B A W Mendis.

Lee 4-0-39-2. Johnson 2-0-17-0. Bracken 4- 0-33-0. Watson 2-0-24-0. Hauritz 4-0-27-1.

Clarke 3-0-19-1.

Sri Lanka beat Australia by 6 wkts.