Australia on brink of World Cup exit after Pathum Nissanka ton

It was another night to forget for Australia, who, just as they had in their loss to Zimbabwe, managed to take only two opposition wickets. The team have managed to take just 14 wickets in total in the tournament.

Nissanka’s stunning 52-ball hundred supported by a quickfire 51 by Kusal Mendis made light work of the run chase in a second-wicket partnership of 97 from 11 overs, and a cameo of 28 from 15 balls by Pavan Rathnayake took Sri Lanka to victory and through to the super eight stage with 12 balls to spare. It means Sri Lanka will be in the same super eight group as England, who had a nervy victory over Italy earlier in the day to secure their passage to the next stage.

The Australian team have come under fire for a lack of preparation heading into this tournament and have also had an injury crisis that meant at one stage they had only 12 fit players. The captain, Marsh, returned for this match after missing the previous one with bleeding in his left testicle, which meant the struggling Matt Renshaw was left out. Early elimination from the tournament will be seen as a significant failure for one of cricket’s powerhouses — although given their demolition of England in the recent Ashes it is unlikely to result in any significant changes to their management set-up.

“They outplayed us,” Marsh admitted. “I thought we had a competitive total but this is just disappointing. We lost our way towards the back end, could not get a partnership going and they bowled well. We know at our best we can make big scores and we knew we might be a bit short given the start we had. Sri Lanka outplayed us and this is a devastated group [of players].

“We are in the lap of the gods now and there are a lot of emotions in the dressing room. We have not been at our best. We will watch the Zimbabwe-Ireland game with hope but we are very disappointed.”

Ireland v Zimbabwe

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