'Oh my goodness': Cricket world stunned by horror World Cup moment

Dushmantha Chameera stunned the cricket world on Thursday with one of the worst deliveries ever seen at a World Cup.

David Warner finally fired with the bat to power Australia to a seven-wicket win over Sri Lanka at the T20 World Cup.

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After Adam Zampa's 2-12 restricted Sri Lanka to 6-154, Warner's 42-ball 65 helped Australia cruise to victory with three overs to spare.

Sri Lanka were left to rue the worst drop of the tournament, with wicketkeeper Kusal Perera grassing the simplest of chances when Warner gloved one through on 18.

It summed up a horror night for the Sri Lankans, who fielded poorly, struggled to find their length and at one stage had a Chameera ball miss the pitch entirely.

Commentators and fans were left gobsmacked when Chameera's delivery didn't even land on the wicket after the paceman held onto the ball for too long before releasing it.

The ball squirted out into the gully region where Perera picked it up rather sheepishly.

"Oh my goodness!" commentator Simon Doull said in shock.

"That'll be a no-ball and a free hit. It's completely slipped out the side."

Sri Lanka great Russell Arnold added: "They've had enough problems, they really didn't need this."

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The win puts Australia in the box seat to advance to the semi-finals for the first time since 2012, with two wins likely enough from games against England, West Indies and Bangladesh.

But almost as important as anything else for Australia will be Warner's time in the middle.

A known performer in World Cups, Warner entered the tournament with just three runs and 14 balls to his name in the last four months.

But after a poor IPL and a 14 against South Africa in the tournament opener, he looked back in his normal touch against Sri Lanka.

The left-hander was busy throughout on Thursday night in Dubai, facing just nine dots and hitting 10 boundaries as he was particularly strong square of the wicket.

After regaining his rhythm by training on polished concrete wickets, Warner insisted his knock was not about silencing his critics.

Instead, it was the perfect hit out for Saturday night's heavyweight clash with England.

"It was great to get out there in the middle, spend some time there running between wickets ... and getting cricket cues," Warner said.

"Little things like that just keeps your mind ticking for when you when you're in those pressure situations.

"In the last sort of six-to-12 months we haven't played that much cricket so I haven't been in those situations too often."

with AAP

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