Loose Lanka Lose!

Marcus Stoinis smashed an unbeaten 59 off 18 balls to power Australia to a sevenwicket win over Sri Lanka and reinvigorate their Twenty20 World Cup defence on TuesdayChasing 158 for victory the hosts depended on Stoinisrsquos rapidfire knock to achieve their target with 21 balls to spare in Perth and bounce back from their opening hammering to New Zealand Next up for the hosts are old rivals England on FridayThe Australians looked in a spot of bother at 893 but Stoinis came out all guns blazing to smash four fours and six sixes Skipper Aaron Finch who made a laboured 31 looked a mere bystander in the unbeaten 69run stand with Stoinis who made the match his ownCharith Asalanka had made an unbeaten 38 to guide Asian champions Sri Lanka to 1576 a total that looked competitive until Stoinis arrived on the scene Sri Lankan pace bowler Binura Fernando left the field in the first over of Australiarsquos chase as the island nation feared for another addition to their already long injury list at this tournamentTheekshana gets WarnerBut the fast bowlers kept the Australian openers in check and spinner Maheesh Theekshana got the big wicket of David Warner on his first ball after the lefthander gave away a catch to the fielder at coverMitchell Marsh took stock and then attempted to break free with a four and six off Wanindu Hasaranga but his extra aggression got him caught at longoff for 17Glenn Maxwell hit back with fours and sixes before he survived a nasty bouncer from Lahiru Kumaramdashthe ball caught his throat but after help from the physio the Australian got gingerly back on his feet Ashen Bandara dropped Finch on 23 but soon made up with a good catch at the boundary rope to help dismiss Maxwell as bowler Chamika Karunaratne and Sri Lanka celebratedBut the joy was shortlived as Stoinis took the game away from Sri Lanka with his bludgeoning knockEarlier Australia elected to bowl first and replaced Covidhit Adam Zampa with Ashton Agar in the team which lost their opener to New Zealand by a hefty 89 runs Sri Lanka looked in trouble at 1206 in the 18th over but the lefthanded Asalankarsquos 25ball knock helped put up a fighting totalAlso ReadT20 World Cup We didnt capitalize towards end says Aaron Finch after defeat against IndiaHow Lanka slippedPathum Nissanka 40 and Dhananjaya de Silva who made 26 put on 69 runs to lay the foundations for the total but Sri Lanka slipped midway by losing wickets Sri Lanka lost their sixth wicket in Hasaranga but Asalanka stood firm and put on an unbeaten stand of 37 with Karunaratne who made 14The pair smashed Pat Cummins for two fours and a six in a 20run final over to finish with a flourish Cummins Josh Hazlewood Mitchell Starc Agar and Maxwell took one wicket eachBrief scoresSri Lanka 1576 in 20 overs P Nissanka 40 C Asalanka 38 lost to Australia 1583 in 163 overs A Finch 31 M Stoinis 59 by seven wicketsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever