Defending champions Australia in control against Sri Lanka

Three wickets left Australia with work to do after the powerplay in their chase of 94 to beat Sri Lanka in Sharjah.

Alyssa Healy (4) and Georgia Wareham (3) went early, before Ellyse Perry lit a fire under the innings with a quickfire 17 before being cleaned up by Suqandika Kumari, leaving her side at 35/3, still clear favourites but not having it all their own way.

Earlier, defending champions Australia took control of their opening game of the tournament as their bowling attack kept Sri Lanka in check in Sharjah.

Nilakshika Silva top scored with 29* for a Sri Lankan side that struggled to get going, scraping to a total of 93/7 from their 20 overs.

Megan Schutt was the pick of the bowlers, taking 3/12 from her four overs, with Sophie Molineux bagging 2/20, and Georgia Wareham and Ashleigh Gardner picking up the remaining wickets.

THE STORY OF THE FIRST INNINGS

The Asia Cup Champions won the toss and opted to bat first, but were tied down in the powerplay, with Australia removing both openers cheaply and stifling the run rate while the fielders were up.

Vishmi Gunaratne was the first to go, trapped in front by Megan Schutt after a struggle of an innings, departing for 0 (10).

And Australia bagged the key wicket of captain and star player Chamari Athapaththu when Ashleigh Gardner had the allrounder out lbw for just 3.

Sri Lanka looked to rebuild, but reached just 23/2 at the end of the first six overs, and Australia soon bagged a third wicket, Kavisha Dilhari also dismissed lbw, this time to Sophie Molineux.

Harshitha Samarawickrama ensured that Sri Lanka at least had a platform to hit off in the final overs, with the No 3 bedding down with a gutsy 23 from 25 balls. But Molineux returned to prize her out, luring the batter into a mistimed shot that offered a simple caught and bowled.

Nilakshika Silva (29* from 40) and Anushka Sanjeewani (16 from 15) ensured Sri Lanka got a score on the board, but scoring continued to prove difficult, as Australia’s bowlers kept things extremely tight.

Georgia Wareham got in on the act, taking a wicket with a full toss that was caught superbly in the deep and given out after a review to use height tracking technology.

And Schutt returned to almost finish things off in the most emphatic of styles, picking up two in two and fizzing down an excellent hat-trick ball that Inoshi Priyadharshani did well to dig out.

Sri Lanka closed on 93/7, leaving Australia with a gettable target.

Having won both warm-up fixtures and the preceding series against New Zealand, Australia are in perfect shape going into the tournament. Up against them are Sri Lanka, who will be smarting from their opening loss to Pakistan, but as results over the last year or so have shown, the Asian champions can never be counted out.

AUSTRALIA: Alyssa Healy (capt & wk), Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Ashleigh Gardner, Phoebe Litchfield, Tahlia McGrath, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Wareham, Sophie Molineux, Megan Schutt, Darcie Brown

SRI LANKA: Vishmi Gunaratne, Chamari Athapaththu (capt), Harshita Samarawickrama, Hasini Perera, Kavisha Dilhari, Nilakshika Silva, Hasini Perera, Anushka Sanjeewani (wk), Sugandika Kumari, Inoshi Priyadarshani, Udeshika Prabodhani, Inoka Ranaweera