Perth: Australia marked win by 7 wickets against Sri Lanka after brilliant performances bowlers as well as the batters. After choosing to bowl first, Australia restricted Sri Lanka at 157 runs after many of Aussies bowlers managed to clinch wickets.
Australia then came to bat and Marcus Stoinis garnered the highest runs 59, and the hosts of the T20 World Cup captain Aaron Finch played with an unbeaten 31 score.
‘I couldn’t hit the ball,’ Aaron Finch after the win
After the win, Finch said, “Very happy. My innings was unusual, poor. I couldn’t hit the ball. The way we approached with the bat was fine. It was seaming a long way there, if we could get through that, it was important to set-up the back end of the innings. Would have been nicke if I had kicked on earlier. All in all, pretty clinical. They bowled the hard length, it was tough.”
“Such a big ground, hard to stand and deliver. Nice to get the two points. (Stoinis) It was a pretty special innings. To come out with that intent is the main thing. When you walk out to bat and have that presence of the crease, that’s half the battle in T20 cricket. When you got the skill that he has got, it’s a good combo. (Next game vs England) Always a great event, any format, anywhere, looking forward to it,” he added.
We started well but couldn’t finish – Dasun Shanaka
While the losing captain Dasun Shanaka said, “We started really well and finished well, but we didn’t get going in the middle overs. I think we could have missed 15-20 runs. Fast bowlers didn’t prepare well, they are coming after injuries. That’s the reason behind getting them injured. It was tough with the new ball due to the spongy bounce. Even Finch struggled against the new ball. They played really well in the latter part.”