Sri Lanka captain Dimuth Karunaratne won the toss and elected bowl in Saturday’s World Cup match against holders Australia.
Karunaratne opted to take advantage of cloudy conditions and a moist pitch at the Oval as he looked to put Sri Lanka in position for their second win of the tournament.
“The last few days, it has rained so we want to take advantage of the moisture in the surface by bowling first,” said Karunaratne, whose team had seen their previous two matches abandoned due to rain.
Australia is aiming for a fourth win from their five matches and skipper Aaron Finch admitted he would have bowled if he had won the toss.
“I haven’t won a toss for such a long time. I would have bowled first too. I think it will swing around so we’ll have to bat well,” Finch said.
Australia made one change, with Jason Behrendorff replacing Nathan Coulter-Nile who was ruled out after feeling “a little bit sore”.
Australia:
David Warner, Aaron Finch (capt), Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Alex Carey (wkt), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Jason Behrendorff, Kane Richardson
Sri Lanka:
Dimuth Karunaratne (capt), Kusal Perera (wkt), Lahiru Thirimanne, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Milinda Siriwardana, Dhananjaya de Silva, Thisara Perera, Isuru Udana, Nuwan Pradeep, Lasith Malinga
Umpires: Aleem Dar (PAK) and Richard Illingworth (ENG)
TV umpire: Michael Gough (ENG)
Match referee: Jeff Crowe (NZL)
