Karunaratne blame middle-order for loss against Oz

After their World Cup 2019 group stage clash by a massive 87 runs against Australia, Sri Lanka skipper Dimuth Karunaratne felt his team's middle-order failed to click despite getting a good start which resulted in their second loss from five games.

Chasing a challenging 335-run target, Sri Lanka looked good at one stage as their scorecard read 153/2 in the 24th over. However, after the fall of openers Karunaratne (97) and Kusal Perera (52), the middle order failed to capitalise as the entire team was bundled out for 247 runs in 45.5 overs on Saturday.

Speaking after the match, Karunaratne said: "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," he added.

Meanwhile, Karunaratne also praised the Australian bowlers and said his team was at the receiving end as they didn't hav a proper plan against their opponents.

"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," the Lankan skipper pointed out.

It was Mitchell Starc, who starred with the ball for the Australians as the pacer bagged four wickets for 55 runs and also got good support from Kane Richardson, who scalped three wickets for 47 runs.

Sri Lanka will next take on hosts England on June 21 while Australia will be up against Bangladesh a day before.

--IANS

kk/in