Australia got their pursuit of a series win off to a superb start in Melbourne on Friday, winning the first one-dayer against Sri Lanka by a massive 107 runs with 10 overs to spare.
Australia posted a formidable 305 for five, with debutant Phil Hughes scoring a wonderful century and skipper George Bailey adding a meaningful score of his own. Sri Lanka were then all out for 198 in reply.
Hughes made 112 off 129 deliveries, opening the batting with fellow debutant Aaron Finch. The latter could only make 16 though, before being caught behind off Ajantha Mendis with the score on 53.
Hughes then watched as yet another new boy, Usman Khawaja, was run out for three, before he joined up with skipper Bailey for a stand of 140. The pair went at six to the over and pushed the score to 212 before Hughes fell to Lasith Malinga.
Bailey continued on to score 89, including eight boundaries and a six, but could not finish the innings as he fell to Angelo Mathews on his 79th delivery faced. This left David Hussey to finish up the innings, smashing 60 not out.
The brother of recently retired Mike AKA ‘Mr Cricket’ Hussey wasted no time in making sure the score would pass 300, and he needed only 34 deliveries to make his knock, hitting two fours and a six in the final over.
Sri Lanka started off slowly when they always needed to be pushing the run rate, but despite being two down for just 17 runs, they seemed to hang in their while Dinesh Chandimal and Tillakaratne Dilshan were in the middle.
The pair put on 94 together for the third wicket after Upul Tharanga and Mahela Jayawardene fell cheaply. They pushed the score from 17 for two to 111 for three, when Dilshan was run out by Khawaja for 51.
That was one of three runs out as the visitors’ movements between the wickets left much to be desired. Angelo Mathews was run out by Glenn Maxwell for 12, before Lahiru Thirimanne was sent packing next ball, without having faced a delivery.
It was all downhill from there for the Sri Lankans, despite Chandimal’s efforts as he made 73. Mitchell Johnson and McKay wrapped up the tail, the latter finishing with four wickets to his name.
The second ODI will be played in Adelaide on Sunday.
