Australia knocked out of T20

Australia 159-9; Sri Lanka 160-4 (19 overs). The Australians were knocked out of the World Twenty20 last night after Sri Lanka handed Ricky Ponting's men their second consecutive defeat in the short form of cricket at Trent Bridge, Nottingham.

Australia's total of 159-9 was only competitive due to late-order contributions from David Hussey (28), Mitchell Johnson (28 not out) and Brett Lee (15 off five balls).

Sri Lanka scored 62 runs in the opening six Power Play overs, then made it home with an over to spare thanks to captain Kumar Sangakkara (55 not out) and opener Tillakaratna Dilshan (53).

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
Mike Selvey, the Guardian: "For the best part of the game Sri Lanka gave Australia a lesson in the arts, for Ricky Ponting's side looked clueless with the bat in the middle portion of their innings (24 runs between the 10th and 15th overs) and at times, especially when the cumbersome muscle-bound Shane Watson was bowling, pedestrian with the ball."

John Westerby, the Times: "While the relevance to the forthcoming Ashes series may be limited, Australia’s tour could hardly have begun in worse fashion, with these two defeats after the expulsion of Andrew Symonds last week. They have suffered humbling defeats before in Twenty20 cricket, losing to Zimbabwe in this competition in 2007, but they recovered in time to reach the semi-finals. This time there will be no reprieve."

Simon Briggs, Daily Telegraph: "There may be an element of fortune about 20-over cricket, but this result extended Australia’s horror run in the format to five successive defeats, suggesting that they have yet to come to terms with cricket’s newest and most vibrant incarnation. There was little sense on Monday night that Australia were playing to a plan in the powerplay overs, which Sri Lanka exploited with a fusillade of early boundaries. Ponting’s desperate attempts at fire-fighting – which included some bizarre field placings – only seemed to make matters worse." ·