The Australian men’s cricket side made a bold statement to open their season yesterday in Adelaide, defeating Sri Lanka by 134 runs.
The T20 World Cup is still a year away, but they look solid to be favourites for the competition on home soil.
Dave Warner scored a magnificent 100 not out, his first in the format and combined with Aaron Finch (64) and Glen Maxwell (62) to set the unchaseable 2-233 after 20 overs.
Warner was steady from the from the get-go and opened the shoulders as he went past thirty runs, clocking in the next seventy in under thirty balls. Finch was his gum chewing, dismissive best, and was unlucky not to join his fellow opener in the three-digit club.
Glen Maxwell did his best to make us all forget his World Cup performance by trying to steal Warner’s show, scoring a delightful sixty-two from twenty-eight delivery’s, all glances and flicks, everything coming from the wrist. Lord knows that man can probably throw a Frisbee.
Warner’s ton ended up coming with a cheeky single rather than another boundary, followed by the trademark leap. Oh what a feeling – helmet in hand, emblem punching forward. Warner had ten fours and four sixes. On his birthday no less.
On came the bowlers, tasked with the relatively simple task of keeping the Sri Lankans from scoring over eleven runs an over. And so they did. Cummins had the highest economy, a touch over six and a half runs per six over, but he took two of the top order batsmen, claiming Bhanuka Rajapaksa’s middle stump as a reward.
Starc was fast. The best short form bowler in the world. Zampa and Agar kept things minimal, fighting internally for the one spin spot likely to be available when things get serious. Kane Richardson was the only wicketless bowler.
Sri Lanka didn’t offer up the best opposition, have a look through the highlights and you’ll see a few too many full tosses, but they were all sent to the stands. Australia is looking to set a standard where they come out of the gate strong in both innings and they did that to perfection yesterday. After the first six overs they were 0-57, in comparison, the Sri Lankans were 3-29. Not very game will be like this but it was a greats tart to the summer.
