The 2023 ICC ODI World Cup is flying by, with nearly one third of the tournament complete, and two of the stronger outfits – Australia and Sri Lanka – are still winless heading into their clash on Monday.
The Aussies have been particularly disappointing, failing to put up a score over 200 in losses to India and South Africa, so they will be desperate to kickstart some momentum in Lucknow.
Check out our full preview of the match below, complete with betting tips and player props!
ICC Cricket World Cup Betting Tips
Australia vs Sri Lanka
Lucknow, Monday 16th October, 7:30pm (AEDT)
Australia
Despite promising a big response after their first up loss to India, Australia again failed to deliver in a 134-run defeat to the Proteas.
Wickets were hard to come by for Australia’s experienced bowling attack, with South Africa piling on 7/311. Second choice spinner Glenn Maxwell was the pick of the bowlers, taking 2/34 as his teammates struggled to both contain and make inroads.
The story soured from there, with the Aussies capitulating for just 177 in the batting innings. Marnus Labuschagne (46 off 74) was the only batter to offer any resistance, as the likes of Marsh, Maxwell and Stoinis continued to struggle. Cameron Green and Alex Carey were left out for the fixture, so it will be interesting to see how the team in green and gold line up for their third match.
In my opinion we will see an unchanged XI for this one, meaning that pressure will be firmly on Australia’s misfiring middle order to perform or else more heads will roll.
Australia Predicted XI: David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Adam Zampa
Sri Lanka
Like Australia, Sri Lanka are 0-2 are two outings, having lost high scoring contests against South Africa and Pakistan.
Sri Lanka have conceded 428 and 345 in their two matches so far, highlighting their weakness in the bowling department. However, the bowling unit is set to change for this encounter, with Matheesha Pathirana and Dasun Shanaka out due to injury. The loss of the latter, Sri Lanka’s skipper, is a massive blow to the team, as he brings experience with both bat and ball.
Kusal Mendis will be forced to take on the captaincy as a result, while replacement player Chamika Karunaratne will likely come straight into the XI to fill the void.
While it hasn’t been a great start to the tournament for Sri Lanka, their batting has been a positive. Scores of 344 and 326 have been massively competitive, Kusal Mendis leading the way with scores of 122 and 76, both at a strike rate north of 150.
That will give Sri Lanka confidence that they can put Australia under huge pressure, given their recent batting woes.
Sri Lanka Predicted XI: Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Perera, Kusal Mendis, Sadeer Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Chamika Karunaratne, Dunith Wellalage, Maheesh Theekshana, Lahiru Kumara, Dilshan Madushanka
Betting Tips
This will be a fascinating encounter, given the contrasting strengths of the two teams. Neither side is settled, and both have relied on the individual efforts of a few in the games so far, so it’s hard to back with any real conviction. It does surprise me, however, that Australia are so heavily favoured, given their inability to put runs on the board this tournament. As such, on the basis of value, I’m going to back the underdogs to consign Australia to a disastrous 0-3 start.
Player Prop Quick Tips
Batsman Matchbet 3 – Kusal Mendis +7.5 ($1.83 at Ladbrokes) – Somehow Mendis will have an eight-run head start on Steve Smith in this battle of the batsmen, despite striking nearly 200 runs in his opening two hits. Mendis is clearly in better form than Smith, who has not excelled in the ODI format for a while now.
