Marcus Stoinis carnage sinks Sri Lanka

T20 WORLD CUP 2022

Stoinis his six sixes and four fours in his incredible knock © Getty

Marcus Stoinis hit the fastest T20I fifty by an Australia batter – off 17 balls – to power his side to a morale-lifting victory over Sri Lanka. The home side – and holders – bounced back from the humbling against New Zealand to post a win that eventually looked comfortable, thanks largely to Stoinis’s pyrotechnics.

Let’s talk about Stoinis first…

The all-rounder walked out to bat with Australia in a bit of a queasy situation as they needed 69 off 46 to earn their first points and give their NRR a lift. The two-over period before Glenn Maxwell’s dismissal felt like the point of inflexion for Sri Lanka as they kept their fight going despite not being very successful at taming Australia in the middle-overs. And then they encountered a different beast. Stoinis started off with two fours off Dasun Shanka – one a pull, another streaky edge to third man – before laying in Wanindu Hasaranga on what will be one of the most forgettable outings for the leggie. One six over deep midwicket, a slap down the ground for four and a slog sweep six in a 19-run over dragged the equation down from 51 off 36 to 32 off 30.

Maheesh Theekshana, who’d done exceptionally well until that point to give away just three runs and pick a wicket in two overs, also came under fire against the big all-rounder. Stoinis muscled him for two sixes – over long on and deep extra cover – before smashing a full toss down the ground to reach his record-breaking 17-ball fifty. 32 off 30 now became 12 off 24, which was polished off in the following over. Stoinis finished his carnage on an unbeaten 59 off just 18 deliveries.

Australia’s spin fury

On a spongy Perth wicket with tennis-ball bounce, Australia’s batters saw through the PowerPlay with just 33 runs on the board and decided to take on the spinners aggressively in the middle-overs. Mitchell Marsh, who struggled to put bat to ball against Theekshana and Dhananjaya de Silva, just cut loose against Hasaranga in his first over. Marsh picked 15 off it, with a short ball pulled for a four and a fuller one smashed down the ground for a six. Marsh looked to go after Dhananjaya too in the middle-overs and paid the price as he found the long-off fielder Bhanuka Rajapaksa.

Out walked Maxwell with a similar memo of smashing the spinners. Hasaranga was caught in his crossfire too as his second over – sandwiched between the first that fetched 15 against Marsh and the third that went for 19 against Stoinis – also went for 19 off Maxwell’s bat. Maxwell hit him all around the park for two sixes and a four in the over as Australia reached the halfway mark at 85 for 2.

Sri Lanka clawed their way back before Stoinis mania? How?

At that stage, Dasun Shanaka needed a bowler to break through so he turned to his best of the night (till that point), the wily Theekshana. Though he didn’t get a wicket, he troubled the struggling Finch and gave away just one run in the over, in the form of a wide. Then came Lahiru Kumara with his searing pace, hitting Maxwell on the glove with a short ball and then following it with an even more venomous bumper that struck the all-rounder on the neck, calling for medical attention. Maxwell was in a lot of pain but recovered to carry on, only to fall in the following over from Dhananjaya. Kumara’s over fetched just two singles and pushed the asking rate up, until Stoinis arrived and turned the tables again, rather violently.

Sri Lanka’s shaky start

Sri Lanka’s openers couldn’t deal too well with the excess bounce and it showed. Kusal Mendis, the architect of Sri Lanka’s Super 12 win over Ireland, opted to take it on in just the second over and perished. He made room against a short ball from Pat Cummins but miscued his pull shot. The ball was bowled outside off and Mendis’s attempt to hit over the leg side went only as far as the midwicket fielder. Dhananjaya de Silva and Pathum Nissanka then dragged Sri Lanka to 36 for 1 in 6 overs.

More stifling in the middle overs

Sri Lanka’s struggles through the first phase was evident in the fact that they got just four fours through it and batted out 19 dot balls. Not much changed from then on till the halfway stage, as Nissanka and Dhananjaya pushed Sri Lanka rather cautiously to 63/1 – scoring just one four in the four overs. Sri Lanka batters have recently struggled in the middle-overs and that just kept up on Tuesday, as Australia turned the screws with economical overs. Dhananjaya and Nissanka ran ones and twos to make up for the lack of boundaries but the scoring rate remained just around six-an-over.

Dhananjaya fell trying to break away after a slow rebuild as he aimed to get the first six of the innings. The wicket however, brought Charith Asalanka who became the late aggressor for Sri Lanka.

Death-overs dash

Sri Lanka lost their middle-order in jiffy right after Pathum Nissanka fell to a run out for a 45-ball 40. Sri Lanka went from 97 for 3 in the 14th over to 120 for 6 in the 18th over. Asalanka still managed to give Sri Lanka a late push as they amassed 31 runs in the last two overs – including 20 off the final one from Pat Cummins. Asalanka finished unbeaten on 38 off 25 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes.

Brief Scores: Sri Lanka 157/6 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 40, Charith Asalanka 38*; Ashton Agar 1-25, Mitchell Starc 1-23) lost to Australia 158/3 in 16.3 overs (Marcus Stoinis 59*, Glenn Maxwell 23; Maheesh Theekshana 1-23) by 7 wickets

What next?

Australia will gather all the momentum from this win and head east to Melbourne where they take on rivals England at the MCG on October 28. Sri Lanka head to Sydney where they go up against New Zealand on October 29.

© Cricbuzz

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