Sri Lanka have extended Australia’s winless run to seven matches following a seven-wicket win in the one-off Twenty20 international at Perth.
The Australians, who have not won a match in all formats since beating Pakistan in the first Test in England back in July, saw their one-day woes continue with a comprehensive defeat at the WACA.
After restricting Michael Clarke’s men to just 133-8 batting first, Sri Lanka confidently chased down the total with seven wickets and 21 balls to spare.
Captain Kumar Sangakkara (44 not out) and opener Tillakaratne Dilshan (41) both made mincemeat of the total after spinner Suraj Randiv had claimed 3-25 with the ball.
Confident
Australia welcomed back pace bowler Peter Siddle and wicketkeeper Brad Haddin for the opening international of their crunch domestic summer.
But Sangakkara’s troops arrived in Perth in confident mood having won the recent Triangular Series against India and New Zealand.
After winning the toss and opting to bat first on a belting track at the WACA, Australia watched on in disbelief as they crashed to 43-5 early on.
David Warner (2), Shane Watson (4), Dave Hussey (7) and Cameron White (8) all failed to reach double figures as Sangakkara rotated his bowlers to destructive effect.
Indeed, it wasn’t until Haddin and Steven Smith combined that Australia threatened to post a competitive total.
The pair added 66 runs for the sixth wicket with Haddin cracking 35 off 30 balls and Smith improvising well with a well-crafted 34 off just 23 deliveries.
Their efforts helped lift Australia to 133-8, however the total never looked like preventing them from crashing to a fourth successive T20 defeat.
Erratic
Openers Dilshan and Mahela Jayawardene got the tourists off to a storming start, taking Dirk Nannes’ first over for 13 as they exploited the powerplay period expertly.
Their 35-run stand was broken in the fourth over when Siddle, playing in his first international for eight months following injury, removed Jayawardene (24) in his comeback over.
Nannes (1-28) then trapped Dinesh Chandimal lbw for just two the following over to enhance hopes of an unlikely victory, however Sangakkara and Dilshan had other ideas.
The pair effortlessly took the game away from the hosts with a mixture of attacking intent and well-placed singles.
Dilshan was denied his sixth T20 half-century when he was stumped off the otherwise erratic bowling on offer from Smith (1-33), however Thisara Perera (17no off four balls) finished the match in style with six, four, six off the leg-spinner.
The first of three one-day internationals between the sides will take place in Melbourne on Wednesday, shown live on Sky Sports 4 from 3am.
