Australia Secure The T20I Series After Thrashing Sri Lanka At Brisbane
Oct 30, 2019 at 5:41 PM
The hosts Australia have secured the three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka after registering another thrashing victory in the Brisbane T20I on Wednesday (30th October).
They played the second T20I at The Gabba (Brisbane). Trailing by 1-0, the visitors Sri Lanka decided to bat first after winning the toss. But the Sri Lankan batsmen once again struggled in front of the Aussie bowlers. Apart from the wicketkeeper-batsman Kusal Perera (27 runs) and opener Danushka Gunathilaka (21 runs), no other visiting batsmen reached the 20-run mark in that innings.
Sri Lanka lost their wickets at regular intervals and finally, they were all out on just 117 runs in 19 overs. Billy Stanlake (2/23), Pat Cummins (2/29), Ashton Agar (2/27) and Adam Zampa (2/20) all picked up two wickets each.
David Warner and Steven Smith batted strongly during Australia’s chasing
In reply, Australia lost their captain and opener Aaron Finch on the third ball of that innings. Finch was caught behind for a golden duck as the visiting captain Lasith Malinga provided a perfect start with the ball.
However, soon the Aussie batsmen changed the game situation and guided the team to the easy victory. Another opener David Warner and the no.3 batsman Steven Smith dominated that innings and made Sri Lanka’s journey hopeless.
Warner-Smith put the 117 runs partnership for the unbroken second wicket. The last T20I centurion, Warner remained not out on 60 runs off 41 balls (9 fours). On the other hand, Smith was batting on 53 runs off 36 balls (6 fours). Their batting helped Australia to reach the target in 13 overs after losing the only wicket.
On last Sunday (27th October), Australia won the Adelaide T20I against Sri Lanka by 134 runs.
After winning the Brisbane T20I, the hosts Australia are leading this T20I series by 2-0 with one to go. This is the first time when Australia have won the home bilateral T20I series against Sri Lanka. Before this T20I series, they played three bilateral T20I series in Australia (including one-off T20I) and Sri Lanka won all those series. But this time the visitors have failed to emulate those successes.
On the other hand, it is the second bilateral T20I series for Australia against Sri Lanka.