ICC T20 World Cup 2021: David Warner roared back to form, smashing his 19th half-century, as Australia gunned down the target of 155 in 17 overs to clinch second spot in the Group 1 table.
David Warner hit his first T20I half-century in over a year to lead Australia to victory over Sri Lanka (AP Photo)
HIGHLIGHTSAustralia (155/3) beat Sri Lanka (154/6) by 7 wickets in DubaiDavid Warner (65), Aaron Finch (37) and Adam Zampa (2/12) starred for the AussiesAustralia displaced Sri Lanka to grab second spot on the Group 1 points table with this win
Cricket fans got a special treat on Thursday as David Warner finally came good with the bat to help Australia crush Sri Lanka by 7 wickets in their Super 12 match at the ICC T20 World Cup in Dubai.
Warner roared back to form, smashing his 19th half-century, as Australia gunned down the target of 155 in 17 overs to clinch second spot in the Group 1 table.
The left-hander, who had single-digit scores in his last four innings for Australia, smashed 65 off 42 balls with 10 fours to top-score in their successful run chase.
AUS vs SL, T20 World Cup: Highlights
His opening partnership worth 70 with captain Aaron Finch laid a solid foundation for the chase before Steve Smith joined the action and added another 50 runs for the third wicket with Warner to take the Aussies closer to the finish line.
Warner got out against the run of play in the 15th over but the damage was already done by then. Smith and all-rounder Marcus Stoinis added the finishing touches and finished the game with 18 balls to spare.
Smith remained unbeaten on 28 while Stoinis scored a quickfire 16 not out off 7 balls. Wanindu Hasaranga de Silva was Lanka’s standout bowler with 2 wickets while skipper Dasun Shanaka got one but in a losing cause.
Earlier, Mitchell Starc bowled the “ball of the tournament” as Australia engineered a mid-innings collapse but couldn’t stop Sri Lanka from posting a decent 154 for 6 after Finch won the toss and decided to bowl first in Dubai.
Starc (2/27 in 4 overs) bowled a brilliant comeback delivery in the form of a vicious inswinging yorker after being hit for a six which saw the end of Kusal Perera (35 off 25 balls) as Sri Lanka lost four quick wickets for 16 runs to slump to 94 for 5 from a relatively strong 78 for 1 in little under three overs.
Bhanuka Rakaspakse (33 not out off 26 balls), then launched into Australian attack’s weak-link Marcus Stoinis (0/35 in 3 overs) to get Sri Lanka somewhat back on track which looked improbable after Starc’s second spell. But their final score was about 15-20 runs short of the mark they would have liked to reach to challenge the Aussies.
Click here for our site’s complete coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.
Comments
Post a Comment