Twenty20 World Cup / Andrew Hughes / 07 June 2009 / 1 Comments

The absence of Andrew Symonds seems to have wounded Australia more than some may have thought. Defeat to Sri Lanka will ensure instant elimination and that's a pretty likely scenario, says Andrew Hughes.

Team News

Australia were crushed by the West Indies but in the absence of Andrew Symonds and they have little room for re-jigging the batting line-up. Nathan Hauritz or Cameron White may well come in, possibly at the expense of Brett Lee. Sri Lanka have been using Tilekeratne Dilshan at the top of the order, with Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakarra floating in the middle order. Mutiah Muralitharan, Ajantha Mendis and Lasith Malinga form a powerful bowling attack.

Conditions

There is evidence to suggest that the ball can swing under the lights at Trent Bridge, although that depends on how cold it is, as there was precious little swing on display during Saturday night's chilly encounter.

Match Odds

Australia need to win this to survive but they have some problems to address. Their batting was reasonably effective, but their bowling was meat and drink to Chris Gayle. Sri Lanka don't quite have a Gayle but they have far more batting depth than the West Indies had and Australia will need to go about their business with a lot more guile than they did on Saturday. The Sri Lankans have once again been overlooked as tournament winners, but their batting is as strong as anyone bar India and with Murali, Mendis and Malinga backed up by Nuwan Kulasekara, they could wreak havoc on this pitch. It is somewhat surprising to see that Australia are [1.69] favourites to win this contest and Sri Lanka surely have to be backed at [2.36]

Top Batsman

David Warner was in good nick for Australia in their opening game but for top Aussie bat I would go with the in-form David Hussey at anything higher than [4.0]. For Sri Lanka, Jayasuriya may be past it and both Sangakkara and Jayawardene are likely to play steadying roles, so the selection for top batsman has to be Tilekeratne Dilshan who would be worth backing at [3.5] or higher.

Featured market

It is rare for batsmen to pass 60 here so 'Under 68.5' can be backed in the Highest Individual Score market with confidence at [1.5] or better.

Andrew Hughes says: Back Sri Lanka to beat Australia @ [2.36]