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The five-match T20 series between Australia and Sri Lanka comes to a close on Sunday evening, with the MCG hosting again as Australia try to complete a 5-0 sweep. After some close calls in the first two games, Sri Lanka has provided less competition in two comprehensive defeats when asked to bat first. Melbourne should give us some nice weather to get through another full game of cricket.

Draftstars has put up a $12,000 contest, with top prize $1,046. There is also a mini and a single-entry tournament.

Expected Australia Xl: Agar, McDermott, Finch, Inglis, Maxwell, Stoinis, Wade, Sams, K Richardson, J Richardson, Zampa

Expected Sri Lanka Xl: Nissanka, Gunathilaka, K Mendis, Asalanka, Chandimal, Shanaka, Karunaratne, Chameera, Theekshana, Vandersay, Kumara

Note: Keep an eye on Team announcements in the lead-up to game start.

The Aussies are $1.15 favourites, despite clearly being in experimentation mode. It’ll be interesting to see if they persist with letting Ashton Agar open the batting despite widespread criticism. I expect to see it one more time, given that the idea has merit even if his skillset is not quite up to it at international level. That leaves Aaron Finch coming in at first drop, and Marcus Stoinis & Matthew Wade firmly staying as finishers at #6 and 7 in the order. The less experienced forces in Ben McDermott and Josh Inglis have given a mixed bag so far, but Inglis in particular has shown plenty of promise for a future at this level. Both of the Richardsons (Jhye & Kane) are more than good enough at this level, while Daniel Sams probably isn’t, but can play a role against a weaker team like this.

The clear bright light in Sri Lankan batting has been Pathum Nissanka, although Kusal Mendis and Charith Asalanka are both talented and could come to the party at this final opportunity. The bouncy pitches are not to their liking, so I don’t expect much improvement across the board. The bowling is much stronger, and the trio of Chamika Karunaratne, Dushmantha Chameera and Lahiru Kumara all have 140+ km/h pace and enjoyed themselves on the MCG deck on Friday. Maheesh Theekshana has also shown his talent as a mystery spinner, so the bowling unit should still find some success against Australia understrength top order.

Love It- Ben McDermott $16,200

McDermott has fallen victim to Theekshana’s spin in consecutive games, so there is a concern that he can’t handle international quality spin. However, he showed how dominant he can be in the BBL season, and with his price coming down to the level of Finch and Inglis it’s worth considering which of the 3 to prefer in this one. I think Finch is past it, and Inglis should get the most ownership after looking very comfortable so far. For those reasons I’m going to back McDermott to hit his massive upside when others hopefully start to give up on him.

Love It- Lahiru Kumara $11,100

One of the lesser-known players in a fairly unknown Sri Lankan team, Kumara is a fairly young player still with some decent pace. While come of his teammates have gotten gradually more expensive while showing their ability through the series, Kumara is still pretty cheap having only played the one game. That one game gave us an impressive 84 points, and I think he’s still excellent value after a modest price rise.

Don’t Love It- Marcus Stoinis $15,700

Stoinis was a great play at the start of the series when playing as the 5th bowler and batting at #5 or 6 in the order. Now that the Agar experiment has given Australia 5 legitimate bowlers and pushed everyone down one position in the batting order, Stoinis is far less involved in the game. Despite that he still saw 37% ownership on Friday night, and has actually gotten a little more expensive as a result. As long as the team balance remains the same for this game, I see no reason to have much exposure to Stoinis at all.

Don’t Love It- Jeffrey Vandersay $8800

It’s a shame that Sri Lanka lost their best player in leg spinner and all rounder Wanindu Hasaranga to COVID. It’s no coincidence that the team has been less competitive in the two games that he was replaced by Vandersay as the leggie, with the latter far less talented. He’s the only minimum priced bowler likely to play, so while it may be tempting to take a shot on him I much prefer finding the extra salary for Kumara or Shanaka.

Who Knows- Daniel Sams $14,400

Sams has played the last two games, for modest returns. His main contribution so far has been a classic catch on the boundary in Canberra, along with a modest economy bonus. No wickets and a failure to bowl his full allotment of overs in either game is concerning for his scoring potential. We know that at BBL level Sams is a wicket taker and a powerful hitter as high as #4 in the order, so there is still hope in this game. Despite being #5 in the bowling pecking order, he could easily make a breakthrough in the early overs and get more opportunity at the death as a result. There is also the outside chance that the team gives up on Agar as an opener, and Sams gets more chance of having a bat as a result, however slim it remains. With the rest of the Aussie bowlers getting more expensive, Sams is one of our few avenues to value from the favourites and has to stay in calculations.

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