ODI series heats up in Colombo

The rapid reaction: Not for the first time on this tour, Australia have again been brought undone by a relatively unknown Sri Lankan spinner. Amila Aponso – who captain Angelo Mathews saw in action for the very first time last week – ran through the tourists and finished off the earlier work from rising star Kusal Mendis and skipper Mathews with the bat. Australia lost regular wickets throughout the daunting run chase and eventually fell to an 82-run defeat.

Report & Highlights: Sri Lanka level the ODI series

The observation: After a month of rather amicable cricket between the two nations, signs of tension are becoming increasingly apparent. Mitchell Starc and Dinesh Chandimal went head-to-head in the seventh over of the day as the Australian unleashed a pair of bouncers with some choice words thrown in to remind the Sri Lankan of the blow to his ribcage in Sunday’s match. Faulkner and Thisara then exchanged pleasantries following the hat-trick ball, before the Sri Lankan got his revenge with an enthusiastic spray aimed at departing opener David Warner later in the evening. The scene is well and truly set moving to Dambulla.

The moment: Australia once again found early wickets in the Sri Lankan innings through Mitchell Starc and new-ball partner Nathan Lyon, but skipper Steve Smith rolled the dice in the Power Play when he threw the ball to part-time tweaker Travis Head for the 10th over. Mendis was just 7 not out at the time and calmly peeled off four boundaries as the single over leaked 20 runs and the hosts were off and racing.

The hero: Mathews kept a relatively low profile as his teammates dismantled Australia during the Test series sweep, but the star allrounder reminded everyone just how damaging he can be with a player-of-the-match performance in the series-levelling win. During his 60-ball knock of 57, Mathews only found the boundary once and cleared it on a couple of occasions as he focused on picking apart the Australian field and ensuring Smith’s attack had limited opportunities to settle. The skipper then took the new ball after the break and conceded just 14 runs from his five Power Play overs, before returning later in the evening to collect a couple of scalps and cap off a fine display.

The victim: It’s been a challenging tour for Moises Henriques, having watched on from the sidelines as Australia were trounced in the Tests in Kandy and Galle, before being called up for the dead rubber clash in Colombo. The allrounder’s medium pace was only called upon for two overs of the nearly 241 sent down by the Australians in that final Test, while he could only manage scores of 4 and 4 with the bat. And with Glenn Maxwell axed for the ODI leg of the tour and Mitch Marsh sent home to rest, Henriques was set to play a key role in the one-dayers. He delivered early with the key wicket of Tillakaratne Dilshan in the series opener, but scored just 6 in Australia’s successful run chase and things didn’t get much easier for the NSW allrounder as he conceded 40 runs from his five overs against a Sri Lankan line-up on the charge last night and managed just 4 off 16 balls with the bat. Walking to the crease at 4-102 and with plenty of work still to do, Henriques appeared bamboozled by the work of inexperienced tweaker Aponso. Playing and missing outside off, Henriques then snagged a slice of luck when he overturned an lbw decision, but he never looked comfortable and Seekkuge Prasanna ultimately dragged him out of the crease, allowing wicketkeeper Dinesh Chandimal to take care of the rest.

The trivia: James Faulkner became the sixth Australian to claim an ODI hat-trick when he picked up the wickets of Kusal Perera, Mathews and Thisara Perera in successive deliveries over the course of two overs. Faulkner joined Clint McKay and Brett Lee with ODI hat-tricks on foreign soil, while Bruce Reid, Anthony Stuart and Dan Christian got the job done at home. The fans at Premadasa Stadium are no strangers to the event, with four of the past 11 hat-tricks in the 50-over game occurring at the venue.

The shock: It’s got to a point on this tour where it’s genuinely surprising to see batsmen survive for any period of time against new-ball supremo Starc. The Australian pace ace has made a habit of inflicting early damage, collecting a wicket in his first over in five of the nine innings leading into the second ODI. It took the left-arm speedster a comparatively long time - a whopping 12 deliveries - to land the first blow on this occasion, with recalled opener Danushka Gunathilaka the batsman to be sent on his way.

The catch: As is the case in defeat, Australia were left to rue a couple of missed opportunities after Mathews won the toss – making it four out of five for the tour – and elected to bat in the afternoon heat. A terrible mix-up between Mendis and the in-form Dinesh Chandimal resulted in Smith having an opportunity to break the key partnership. Collecting a slight fumble, Smith tried to throw down the stumps with Mendis nowhere to be seen, only for bowler Aaron Finch to have departed his post by the stumps in an effort to retrieve the ball after his skipper's initial stumble. Fast forward to the 42nd over with Kusal Perera facing up and Adam Zampa fluffed a chance he would take 99 times out of 100. The leggie was brilliant with the ball in claiming 3-42 to halt the home side’s push for a 300+ score, but the missed chance proved costly. The Kusal duo added a combined 54 off 48 deliveries following the two fielding blunders and the hosts never looked back.

The talking point: Is Travis Head batting too far down the order? The decision to send Wade up the order certainly worked last night as the Victorian played a lone hand in posting a career-best ODI score of 76. Head plays a majority of his domestic cricket at the top of the order, but has found himself bumped down to No.7 behind Henriques for the first two matches of the series. Smith’s departure opens up a spot at first drop and may just give the immensely talented Head an opportunity to truly build an innings and show why he’s one of the most highly-rated batsmen in the country.

The wash-up: The series is locked at 1-1 heading to Dambulla and the contest is well and truly alive between the two sides. With Smith heading home to rest up ahead of the home summer, Australia now have to answer a couple of selection dilemmas under the new leadership of Warner. Mathews and his men will look to continue their winning ways, and don’t put it past them to somehow find yet another spinner who turns it square while driving up north later this week.