For reasons best known to themselves, Australia chose a curious team for their must-win against Sri Lanka. Despite repeated scenes of frustration as a parade of tall, muscular, big-hitting batsmen find themselves swiping madly on pitches that do not suit that sort of thing, it was decreed that the same men would be tried yet again. Except for Renshaw – the one man who mastered the conditions in the Zimbabwe debacle – who found himself resting in the stands in an orange jersey. The pitch in Kandy looked to be a slow turner, which suggested that getting on with it against the new ball might be a fine idea. So well did Marsh – back from his indisposition – and Head play the first six that the score was 0/70. Both went on to complete brilliant fifties before succumbing to an outfield catch (Head) and a top-spinner, both to Hemantha. The home side’s woes had also included a fetlock strain to Pathirana in his first over, which brought the Sri Lankan captain to the bowling crease. Something of an error of judgement on his part, since Shanaka rarely bowls these days.

But thereafter the innings took a depressingly familiar turn. Yes, the pitch slowed up, and scoring became more arduous. Inglis and Maxwell did their best, and at least tried finesse rather than reaching continually for the bludgeon. The less said about the rest of the batting the better. If the only tool in your kit is a hammer, then truly everything looks like a nail. Even when it’s actually a bouquet of flowers, or a bear-trap. After ten overs Australia was 2/100, having just lost Green to an absurd sarabande down the pitch to Wellalage. They were bowled out for 181. Sri Lanka fielded and caught like demons, with just two blemishes: a missed stumping and a dollied outfield catch. Yet Nissanka redeemed his miss the previous over by a brilliant catch to remove Maxwell. The capacity crowd cheered and stamped as the hosts fought their way back into a contest which looked done and dusted an hour before.

Sri Lanka’s innings was punctuated, eventually, by two wickets to Marcus Stoinis, who picked up Kusal Perera in the second over and Kusal Mendis in the thirteenth. For the rest, it was a massacre. Mendis managed 51 from 38. Pathum Nissanka meanwhile blasted his way to a century, from 52 balls, with five sixes and ten fours. It was a spectacle reminiscent of the old Yorkshire pro who said, of JT Tyldesley: ‘I bowls it where I likes, and he hits ’em where he likes.’ At the other end Ratnayake picked off a half-dozen boundaries. In the end it was a crushing victory for the home side. Australia might well be thinking how on earth did we lose this after being so far on top? It was as though the Australians had put their boots on their wrong feet. Truth to tell, this was a poorly-chosen side for the subcontinent. Where was Smith when he was needed? Or Renshaw? Or even Murphy?

It is certainly true that Australia are not necessarily heading home early. An absurd concatenation of results might still favour them. Or a meteorite might strike the team hotel. But that is by the by. This side has been outperformed by the likes of the USA, who have managed two good wins. Even Italy have done better. Thanks to some scorching strokeplay from Ben Manenti, Italy gave England another fright earlier in the day. The surprise packet of the tourney thus far has been the West Indies, who have already qualified with three straight wins in their group. But Australia is going home early, unless there is an unexpected stroke of lightning somewhere.

To this moment we really do not know what went through Travis Head’s mind when he won the toss and elected to field. Common wisdom would have it that you bat first by day, and field first by night. The pitch is slow, and will get slower. Why you would want to field in the heat of the day is, verily, a mystery. As if to underline this point Zimbabwe’s openers Marumani and Bennett hopped joyfully into some wayward offerings and raced to 61 in seven and a half overs. Dwarshuis and Maxwell were hammered. Stoinis alone kept his head, removing Marumani caught behind for a thunderous 35. Burl and Bennett pressed on with a degree of circumspection, knowing the pitch was a 150 one, and hoping for more. In dropping a sharp return catch Stoinis injured his hand and had to limp off. Replacing him for the last ball of his over, Green caused a wayward skier from Burl which was safely pouched by Bartlett.

This brought the super-veteran Sikandar Raza to the crease. He wasted no time and whacked a cheerfully brutal unbeaten 25. Brian Bennett’s unbeaten 64 – carrying his bat through the innings – looked sedate, but his job was to rotate the strike and let the hitters plunder the bowling. Set 170 to win, Australia looked up against it from the first over. You would think that the pitch would not have suited Blessing Muzarabani. Yet it was probably tailor-made for the giant Mashona. Batsmen do not expect the ball to fly off a length on these wickets. Because he delivers from a truly enormous height, the ball can fly from anywhere. He was too much for Inglis and David, while Brad Evans chipped in with the wickets of Head and Green. At 4/29 halfway through the fifth over the contest was more or less done.

Glenn Maxwell’s struggles were piteous to behold. He was dropped twice right on the boundary fence. He did his very best to stay in the contest. Yet the truth is probably that his time has come and gone. After a run-a-ball 31 he fell to Burl’s occasional leg-spin. Yet Matt Renshaw was master of the occasion. His stroke selection was peerless, and while he was still there, perhaps Australia might pull off a miracle. This rather depended on Zimbabwe dropping their bundle, and maybe falling apart in the field under pressure. There was no sign of that whatever. The bowlers stuck to their guns, and the fielding was of the highest quality. Munyonga’s outfield catch to dismiss Dwarshuis was one of the best you will ever see. Finally Renshaw departed, for a brilliant 65 from 44, and the end came suddenly. Australia must now win their remaining two games to stay alive. And with Sri Lanka in white-hot form, you would hesitate to put money on it.

Unlike the longer forms of the game, the ICC has decreed that the T20 World Cup (held, confusingly, every two years instead of four) is very much a Come All Ye affair. No less than twenty teams compete, largely from Associate members. The important thing about this is that in the game’s short form, the gap between amateur and professional is greatly diminished. These lesser sides get a minimum of four matches, and they have showed themselves well and truly up for it. Had it not been for a difficult dropped catch from the hapless Max O’Dowd, Netherlands would have beaten Pakistan. Scotland were well in the game against West Indies until George Munsey was brilliantly caught by an acrobatic leap by Shimron Hetmeyer. England only survived against Nepal thanks to a nerveless final over by Sam Curran. Not that England played badly. Rather the Nepalese played out of their skins and kept fighting on despite losing wickets at crucial moments. Even mighty India found the USA troublesome, and their victory was narrower than the final margin suggests.

There are a few surprising newcomers. Who even knew that Italy had a cricket team? Despite a brilliant 84 from Munsey, and a five-ball unbeaten 22 from Michael Leask, Italy were well in it while the Manenti brothers (definitively Italian, though both are South Australians) were batting, and belting the ball everywhere. But the standout game happened earlier today, where South Africa and Afghanistan fought out a bewildering finale. Many a time the Afghans looked completely out of it, yet they kept on coming; and thanks to a brace of no-balls in the final over Noor Ahmed smashed his way into a tied match and a Super-over. Thanks to Azmat, Afghanistan set the Proteas 18 to win. With a final ball six from Stubbs the scores were tied again. The answer to the question What Happens Now? is apparently a repeat performance of the super-over. This time South Africa managed 23: which looked utterly beyond hope. With four balls to go the target was still 24. Ramanullah Gurbaz, who had made a superb 84 earlier, then smashed the next three balls for six, and only fell at the final hurdle.

So Australia would not have turned up to Colombo feeling overconfident. Half the side’s best XI is missing through injury or otherwise, and the thrashing they had received in Pakistan recently would not have filled them with joy. Head won the toss, stared at the low, slow turner and decided to bat first. He then inexplicably ran himself out. But Inglis and Green hopped into the Irish bowling, knowing that the best time to bat was right now. After five overs the score was 2/56. Thereafter the going became more laboured. Trying to score quickly on a vast arena where the ball does a bit, and refuses to come on to the bat, hanging back instead like a reluctant maiden on an alien dance floor, is not easy. It is like trying to thread a needle in gardening gloves while wading through warm molasses.

Inglis departed to a magnificent catch by Stirling, who launched himself like a flying cement-mixer and hauled in a screamer. Alas, the red-bearded veteran strained a fetlock in doing so. Maxwell came and went without troubling anyone overmuch, as he is all too prone these days. But Renshaw and Stoinis kept their heads and pushed the score along against a battery of probing spinners. The lessons of the Pakistan debacle seem to have sunk in. Instead of trying to hit the ball into the Maldives they collected ones and twos. There were 22 of the latter during the innings, which was a fine adjustment to the unpromising conditions. Stoinis’ biceps and forearms resemble those of the village blacksmith, but even he could find the fence only three times. But their stand of 61 from 44 was highly meritorious. Australia finished on 6/182, which looked enough for comfort on what was most likely a 150 pitch.

The belligerent Irish captain limped off after the first ball. Stirling was still inconvenienced, and much worse was to follow as Ellis took three wickets with his first seven deliveries. Tucker kept his head without threatening anything much, and when the fifth wicket fell at 43 the contest was over. Zampa and Ellis shared four wickets each as Ireland subsided for 115. The only innings of substance came from Dockrell at number eight, whose 41 from 29 was full of merit. Australia has an easy draw, and should qualify as a matter of course for the next round. The best bit was that the batting was sensible, the fielding excellent, and most of the players had a fine workout. With Marsh’s injury Steve Smith has been summoned at the last moment. If Australia intends to proceed beyond the Super Eights, then fitting him in would seem a sensible choice, should this be possible.