Prime Minister’s XI win T20 thriller against Sri Lanka

Harry Nielsen plays a shot

Harry Nielsen guided the Prime Minister’s (PM) XI to a narrow one-wicket T20 victory against Sri Lanka in their warm-up match played at Canberra yesterday.

The hard-hitting wicket-keeper blasted 79 off 50 balls and also took three catches as the PM’s XI chased down Sri Lanka’s 131 for eight with one ball and one wicket to spare at the Manuka Oval thanks to the final-over heroics of Fawad Ahmed.

“I couldn’t quite get the job done but it was nice to get a few runs,” said Nielsen, who was dismissed with nine runs still required and five balls remaining.

“I was just trying to take it as deep as possible. We kept losing wickets at probably the wrong time and their spinners bowled really well through the middle, I just tried to hit the gaps and run hard.”

Sri Lanka showed glimpses of the talent that saw them beat Pakistan 3-0 recently but left plenty of room for improvement in the T20 International series against Australia as they struggled to score against an attack that produced 48 dot balls.

In contrast, a wide from Kasun Rajitha handed the PM XI’s victory with the extra carrying the hosts to 132 for nine.

Sri Lanka Captain Niroshan Dickwella won the toss and elected to bat but only three players made more than 11 runs, with Oshada Fernando top scoring with 38.
Canberra local Djali Bloomfield (two for 17) started the slide when opener Danushka Gunathilaka edged to Nielsen in the second over.

Test star Peter Siddle (one for 15) and veteran all-rounder Dan Christian (two for 16) were the pick of the bowlers with sharp three-over spells.

Outside Player-of-the-Match Nielsen, only Christian (13) could join Nielsen in reaching double figures.

Former international Chris Lynn was a notable failure, scoring just three and having his leg stump uprooted after stepping outside the line of a ball that shaped back in, having expressed his disquiet at being left out of Australia’s T20I Squad earlier this week.

Lakshan Sandakan (three for 21) was the pick of the Sri Lankan attack, making inroads into the PM XI’s batting order in the absence of rested Skipper Lasith Malinga. 
(Agencies)