AUSTRALIA: Australia’s amazing performance with the bat and some unreal batting by Marcus Stoinis helped the team to post a seven-wicket victory over Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka innings
Australia won the toss and put Sri Lanka to bat first on a pacy Perth wicket.
SL openers Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis opened the innings for SL. The wicket indeed looked quick and Cummins took advantage of that by removing Mendis with a short ball.
SL was clearly struggling with the pace attack and they managed to score only 36 runs on the power-play.
Half of the match passed but SL was still unable to shift gears and, as a result, they ended up at 60-1 in 10 overs.
At the end of the 15th over, SL lost de Silva (26) Nissanka(40) and Rajapaksa (7) and were standing at 106-4. The slow start from the openers piled up the responsibility on the later batsmen. As a result, SL kept losing wickets. They needed some good hitting from here to put on a good total for the Aussies.
In the last 5 overs, Charith Asalanka put on a good show and Karunaratne also added some final blows. SL ended up scoring 157-6 thanks to Asalanka’s quick-fire 38 off 25. These two added 20 runs in the final over of Cummins.
From Australia, Hazelwood, Starc, Agar, Maxwell, and Cummins all shared one wicket each.
Australia innings
David Warner and Aaron Finch opened the innings for Australia. They also felt some heat from the Sri Lankan pace attack, and that choked them. Due to tight bowling, SL was able to take Warner’s wicket in the 4th over, just what SL needed.
Australia also struggled in the power play and scored 33 runs in that Soon after that, they also lost Marsh. The Aussies needed a partnership from here and also needed a shift of gears.
Maxwell and Finch both lifted the team and shifted momentum towards Australia by hitting some good boundaries and finishing the 10th over 85-2.
Maxwell lost his wicket soon after. It seemed like Maxwell lost his concentration after getting hit in the throat area by a bouncer from Kumara.
Australia were at ease as Stoinis came in and started whacking the ball over the boundaries. At the end of the 15th over, AUS was 126-3.
After that, Stoinis (59*) created history. He scored his half-century in only 17 balls. He was just hitting the ball all around the ground and, as a result, Australia won the match by 7 wickets with 21 balls to spare.
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