Darren Lehmann praises ODI players for remarkable turnaround

Australian cricket coach, Darren Lehmann has hailed the Limited overs team for a remarkable turnaround both in the One Day International series as well as in the first T20 match against Sri Lanka. This rapid transformation from the ignominy suffered in the Test series has certainly been a brilliant story for the touring Australians.

“Credit to the one-day players coming in and playing a different way in the way they played spin. And they adapted probably quicker than our Test blokes, that’s just an honest appraisal", Lehmann said one the eve of the second and final T20 of the series.

“We’ve played very well in the one-day format on very similar wickets (to the Test series), they’re slow and have spun, so it’s been a good performance by the one-day boys,” Lehmann further added.

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The ODI players who came into the squad without any baggage from the Test series quickly got down to work and scored rather freely on spinning tracks. Their dominance was such that four of the six top-scorers in the series were from the Australian camp. The form shown by Aaron Finch, George Bailey and Mathew Wade was especially very promising.

Lehmann singled out special praise for young batsman Travis Head who has looked assured at the crease with the bat and also has the ability to prize out important wickets with his off-spin. Many around Australia that believe that the 22-year old can be blooded as one of the players who can deliver in subcontinents on slow, turning tracks.

“Trav getting experience has been really important for us, he’s a young player who’s up and coming and he’s learning very quickly. I am really impressed with him and his thought process,” Lehmann observed.

“He was also very good with Glenn Maxwell the other day (the first T20), thus the more chances we give him, the better off we are going tSo the more chances we can give those guys in these one-day series, the be in the longer run," Lehmann added.

Australia take on Sri Lanka in the final T20I in Colombo today. This will also be the last International appearance for Tillakaratne Dilshan.