Marcus Stoinis took apart Sri Lanka’s bowling attack to give Australia a comfortable 7-wicket win in their Super 12s encounter versus Sri Lanka at the Optus Stadium in Perth.
Stoinis’ innings contained six sixes and 4 fours, his half century coming off just 17 deliveries, the fastest 50 for Australia in any format. The Aussies plan seemed to be attack, attack, attack, a plan that worked well in the latter half of the innings, particularly for Stoinis and Glenn Maxwell.
Though Aaron Finch remained unbeaten at the end of the chase, it was that pair that did all the damage, combining for 82 off 30 deliveries. Most notably, they seemed set on taking apart Wanindu Hasaranga, who conceded his most expensive spell in T20I cricket, going for 53 off 3 overs; his 2nd over going for 20 and his 3rd for 19.
Australia cantered home in the end with nearly 4 overs to spare, repairing their Net Run-Rate to some degree with the win.
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Asalanka came to the crease tasked with upping the ante following a 69-run partnership that consumed 58 deliveries, between Pathum Nissanka and Dhananjaya de Silva. Having been in horrid form throughout the Asia Cup (which saw him dropped for the final and opening games of the World Cup) Asalanka found some touch in the last game versus Ireland and started off well here too, hitting a brilliant straight six off Mitch Marsh off just his 5th delivery.
Sri Lanka started off slow, making just 36 off the Powerplay and then ending the 10th over with just 63 on the board. However, Asalanka’s arrival pushed things along quickly, with Sri Lanka making 43 off the next 5 overs.
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Glenn Maxwell was brought into the attack surprisingly in the 16th over and his 5-run over pulled things back once again for the hosts. Asalanka and Karunaratne managed to find the boundary a couple of times in the last three overs, helped along by some wayward bowling and misfields to post 157.
The Sri Lankan middle-order missed out once again, with Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dasun Shanaka and Wanindu Hasaranga combining for 11 off 14 deliveries.
Sri Lanka still have a massive task at hand defending 157 against the Aussies, who will be looking to go hard and win big to boost their Net Run-Rate, which took a beating in their massive loss versus the Kiwis in their Super 12s opener.
Result
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pathum Nissanka | run out (Matthew Wade) | 40 | 45 | 2 | 0 | 88.89 |
| Kusal Mendis | c Mitchell Marsh b Pat Cummins | 5 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 83.33 |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | c David Warner b Ashton Agar | 26 | 23 | 3 | 0 | 113.04 |
| Charith Asalanka | not out | 38 | 25 | 3 | 2 | 152.00 |
| Bhanuka Rajapaksa | c Pat Cummins b Mitchell Starc | 7 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 140.00 |
| Dasun Shanaka | c Matthew Wade b Glenn Maxwell | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 60.00 |
| Wanidu Hasaranga | c Matthew Wade b Josh Hazlewood | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 25.00 |
| Chamika Karunaratne | not out | 14 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 200.00 |
| Extras | 23 (b 6 , lb 5 , nb 0, w 12, pen 0) |
| Total | 157/6 (20 Overs, RR: 7.85) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Josh Hazlewood | 4 | 0 | 26 | 1 | 6.50 | |
| Pat Cummins | 4 | 0 | 36 | 1 | 9.00 | |
| Mitchell Starc | 4 | 0 | 23 | 1 | 5.75 | |
| Ashton Agar | 4 | 0 | 25 | 1 | 6.25 | |
| Marcus Stoinis | 2 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 8.50 | |
| Mitchell Marsh | 1 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 14.00 | |
| Glenn Maxwell | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 5.00 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| David Warner | c Dasun Shanaka b Maheesh Theekshana | 11 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 110.00 |
| Aaron Finch | not out | 31 | 42 | 0 | 1 | 73.81 |
| Mitchell Marsh | c Bhanuka Rajapaksa b Dhananjaya de Silva | 17 | 17 | 1 | 1 | 100.00 |
| Glenn Maxwell | c Ashen Bandara b Chamika Karunaratne | 23 | 12 | 2 | 2 | 191.67 |
| Marcus Stoinis | not out | 59 | 18 | 4 | 6 | 327.78 |
| Extras | 17 (b 4 , lb 3 , nb 0, w 10, pen 0) |
| Total | 158/3 (16.3 Overs, RR: 9.58) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Binura Fernando | 0.5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 10.00 | |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | 2.1 | 0 | 18 | 1 | 8.57 | |
| Lahiru Kumara | 3.3 | 0 | 22 | 0 | 6.67 | |
| Chamika Karunaratne | 3 | 0 | 21 | 1 | 7.00 | |
| Maheesh Theekshana | 3 | 0 | 23 | 1 | 7.67 | |
| Wanidu Hasaranga | 3 | 0 | 53 | 0 | 17.67 | |
| Dasun Shanaka | 1 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 10.00 | |
