Australia has defeated Sri Lanka by six wickets at Manuka Oval, taking an unassailable 3-0 lead in the best of five T20 international series on Tuesday.
Lacking Pat Cummins, Steve Smith and Adam Zampa, and pitching up a brainstorm that sent in Ashton Agar to open, Australia still looked at ease using the bowl first formula that won the World Cup to seal the Twenty20 series against Sri Lanka.
Though they lost Ben McDermott first ball of the chase and Agar’s stay proved a brief one, Aaron Finch and Glenn Maxwell demonstrated plenty of positive intent to back up the No. 4’s assertion - offered up on the broadcast in the field - that small targets were best charged rather than crawled down.
Both had plentiful shares of good fortune, Maxwell reprieved as many as three times depending on whether all chances carried or not, but provided ample entertainment for a Manuka Oval crowd.
Josh Inglis arrived after Maxwell’s fall and following a nervy start he struck the blows in the company of Marcus Stoinis that ensured the Australians got home with six wickets and 19 balls to spare.
Having missed selection for the Cup in the UAE, Kane Richardson and Agar not only slotted seamlessly into the bowling lineup but took their chance to make significant impacts on the match, with combined figures of 4-35 from their eight overs.
Those spells went a long way towards ensuring Sri Lanka could not set a target much beyond a run a ball, even as Mitchell Starc offered up considerable inconsistency after starting off with a scorching yorker first ball that Pathum Nissanka did wonderfully well to keep away from his stumps and pads.
Richardson claimed a wicket with his first ball, was hammered for a six by Charith Asalanka but then found the No. 3’s outside edge with his fourth. Australian parsimony then denied Sri Lanka any boundaries for a 36-ball stretch through the middle of the innings.
