Australia continues match winning streak ahead of tournament

Usman Khawaja has further enhanced his chances of opening in the World Cup.

Usman Khawaja hits a four behind during the Cricket World Cup warm-up match between Australia and Sri Lanka. Picture: AP.

Usman Khawaja further enhanced his chances of opening for Australia in the World Cup overnight with a carefully compiled 89 as Australia continued its match winning streak ahead of the tournament proper.

The left hander is in competition with David Warner to see who will partner Aaron Finch at the top of the order.

Khawaja is now the leading run scorer in ODI in the world this year — ahead of Aaron Finch and Virat Kohli — and in fine form ahead of the tournament.

Warner, who scored 43 opening in Australia’s win over England on Saturday, is suffering from some tightness in an upper leg muscle and sat out the game against Sri Lanka at the Ageas Bowl. The former vice-captain is expected to be fit to play in the team’s opening match of the tournament against Afghanistan on Saturday.

Khawaja formed a solid partnership with Finch in Warner’s absence and made the most of the opportunity back at the top order, pushing the ball into gaps, but still going at a strike rate of 85 runs per 100 balls despite only hitting three boundaries.

Australia cruised to the victory, passing Sri Lanka’s 8-239 with 31 balls to spare and losing only five wickets. Steve Smith was not required to bat, spending time in the nets and allowing the rest of the top order to get time in the middle after his hundred against England.

Khawaja claims thoughts of where he will bat are not on his mind and that the side is focused on the process of winning.

“I wasn’t thinking about it that way, I was just, we’ve been trying to win games and be really clinical and not take it too lightly because it’s a warm up game,” he said.

“We won our three warm up games here, we won two of three against New Zealand in Australia. It was more about us continuing the winning ways we had in India and in Dubai, for us as a team and what I was trying to concentrate on was just trying to continue that, not looking too far ahead to things that are out of my control, I think everyone is in a really good spot which is a good thing for us, all the batsmen are playing really well, the bowlers are bowling beautifully to restrict them to the total they did. I think we are all in a really good place, whatever team is picked we are in a really good place to head into this tournament.”

Khawaja prefers to open but claims he does not care where he bats.

“I do love opening, absolutely,” he said. “That’s where I batted my whole life in one-day cricket. But at the end of the day it is about winning games and doing the best for your team.

“I’d much rather get a duck and win than me get 100 and lose. It doesn’t matter what happens, where I play, if I play if I don’t play, if I’m running the drinks I’m going to try and contribute to the squad.

“I know what the changeroom feels like when you’re winning and what it feels like when you’re losing and the winning one I’ll take any day of the week.”

Coach Justin Langer had identified scoring runs against spin as a weakness in the side’s 50 over game in the lead up to the World Cup and should be pleased with the way all the top order went about their business.

Finch 8 (11 balls) was out early, trapped in front by Nuwan Pradeep.

Shaun Marsh, who appears to be in competition with Khawaja for the fifth batting position in the side followed his 30 in the England game with 34 (43 balls) in an 80 run partnership with the Queensland captain.

There were concerns for Khawaja earlier in the game when he had to be assisted from the field after injuring his knee.

The batsman was struck on the left leg while fielding relatively deep at mid off where he misread the bounce.

Khawaja was in obvious pain and limped slowly from the ground after being attended to by the team doctor.

It is the second time in a week he has had to leave the centre. The batsman was struck in the jaw in the match against the West Indies and was taken away from scans which revealed no structural damage.

Khawaja has had two surgeries on the left knee, the most recent after tearing the meniscus in October last year and in 2014 for a torn ACL.

“It’s fine, embarrassing more than anything, it just hit the side of my knee and I couldn’t put any weight on it,” he said. “I’d try to get up, Gaz (Nathan Lyon) was telling me to just lie down, but I was saying ‘I’m not going to lie down I’m going to get up’, but I’d try to get up and I couldn’t. My knee collapsed underneath me because of where it hit, I went off iced it and after about 25 minutes I felt all right, it’s a bit sore now but nothing structurally wrong.”

Sri Lanka has batted solidly after winning the toss despite some hostile bowling from the Australian quicks.

Opener Lahore Thirimanna reached 56 before being bowled by a bouncing straight delivery from Nathan Lyon.

Steve Smith, who has been working on his leg spin, also bagged a wicket. The former captain taking a good catch off his own bowling to remove Angelo Mathews.