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Stoinis gives Sri Lanka the treatment
The Australia all-rounder tears into the bowling and steers the holders to a crucial seven-wicket victory in Perth, helping the hosts bounce back after defeat to NZ
In an awe-inspiring display of power, skill and aggression, Marcus Stoinis put hosts and defending champions Australia's T20 World Cup campaign back on track by helping them ease to a seven-wicket win over Sri Lanka at Perth.
It was as if Stoinis was batting on a different pitch to everyone else in the Group 1 Super 12 encounter on Tuesday night. The surface offered pace and bounce, the boundaries were big and Sri Lanka were in the mood to fight. It could be seen in how the home team’s top-order struggled. For the first time, Australia didn't hit a boundary in the powerplay overs.
Stoinis though made a mockery of all the challenges by bludgeoning six sixes in an 18-ball unbeaten 59. His fifty in 17 balls is the fastest in T20 internationals by an Australia batter.
The game looked set for an exciting finish after Sri Lanka bowled with heart to restrict Australia to 89/3 in 12.2 overs. The 11th and 12th overs had gone for one and two runs respectively and Australia were under pressure. But Stoinis walked in at Glenn Maxwell’s dismissal and snuffed out Sri Lankan victory hopes. The islanders must have felt like being caught in a storm when he got going with two fours before smashing ace leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga for two sixes and a four.
Sri Lanka’s best spinner of the day Maheesh Theekshana was not spared either, smashed for three sixes when he came on for his third over, 16th of the innings. After Stoinis got going, Australia got 10 runs in the 14th over, 19 in the 15th and 20 in the 16th.
Aaron Finch was left to marvel at the show, and bowed to Stoinis as the win was sealed. The skipper could hardly get bat to ball even after spending time at the wicket. When their partnership touched fifty, Stoinis had scored 47 of them.
Like Finch, Sri Lanka batters had also been given a torrid time by the tall Australia fast bowlers. Only stylish left-hander Charith Asalanka was up to the challenge. He hit a 25-ball 38 to help reach a competitive 157/6. With three crafty Sri Lanka spinners in Maheesh Theekshana, Wanindu Hasaranga and Dhananjaya de Silva, the decisive phase was going to be the middle overs. The pacers Lahiru Kumara and Chamika Karunaratne had done well to build early pressure by not conceding a boundary in the first seven overs. But Mitchell Marsh and Glenn Maxwell ensured the spin attack didn’t get to settle down. Maxwell hit two sixes and a four to blast 18 runs off Hasaranga’s second over. It was a key moment in the game. The spinners were put under pressure. From 38/1 in seven overs, Australia recovered to 85/2 in 10 overs. Hasaranga had figures of 2-0-34-0 and Dhananjaya de Silva 2.1-0-18-1 at that stage.
Sri Lanka fought back by conceding just 4 runs off the next 14 balls and taking Maxwell’s wicket. Stoinis ensured the contest ended there. “To be honest, I was really nervous today being at home in Perth, lot of family and friends here. So, I was really nervous going into it, but really happy that we ended putting up a clinic there,” Stoinis, the Player-of-the-Match, said.
Brief Scores: Sri Lanka 157/6 (P Nissanka 40, C Asalanka 38*); Australia 158/3 in 16.3 overs (A Finch 31*, M Stoinis 59*). Australia won by 7 wickets.
