Kusal Mendis secures run-chase victory as Sri Lanka avoid whitewash

Sri Lanka
Report

Captain Aaron Finch will return to the top of the order with the Ashton Agar experiment shelved

Australia won the toss and decided to bat against Sri Lanka

An unchanged Australia are aiming to complete a whitewash of beleaguered Sri Lanka, as the hosts won the toss and elected to bat at the MCG in the fifth and final T20I of the series.

In their last home international of the summer, Australia fielded the same line-up that easily won by six wickets on Friday at the same venue. But skipper Aaron Finch confirmed he will move back to the top of the order having batted the last couple of matches at No. 3 as spinning allrounder Ashton Agar was surprisingly trialled as opener.

But that experiment has seemingly ended with Agar listed at No. 8 while in-form Josh Inglis has been moved up a couple of positions to No.3.

Australia are seeking their first 5-0 T20I series victory against any opponent and enter as hot favourites against an undermanned Sri Lanka, who have gradually fallen away in the series and lost their last eight T20Is in Australia.

With star allrounder Wanindu Hasaranga and quick Binura Fernando unavailable, Sri Lanka handed debuts to opener Kamil Mishara and allrounder Janith Liyanage as the embattled tourists seek a consolation victory and much-needed confidence in Australian conditions as the T20 World Cup looms.

With a 5.10pm local start, two hours earlier than normal, the family friendlier time slot is hoped to attract more fans after a series marred by low attendances, including just 13,175 people on Friday in the lowest ever T20I crowd at the MCG.

Australia 1 Aaron Finch (capt) , 2 Ben McDermott, 3 Josh Inglis, 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 Marcus Stoinis, 6 Matthew Wade (wk), 7 Daniel Sams, 8. Ashton Agar, 9 Jhye Richardson, 10 Kane Richardson, Adam Zampa

Sri Lanka 1 Kamil Mishara, 2 Pathum Nissanka, 3 Charith Asalanka, 4 Kusal Mendis (wk), 5 Janith Liyanage, 6 Dasun Shanaka (capt), 7 Chamika Karunaratne, 8 Dushmantha Chameera, 9 Praveen Jayawickrama, 10 Maheesh Theekshana, 11 Lahiru Kumara

Tristan Lavalette is a journalist based in Perth

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