Warner, who was playing his first international match on home soil after serving the 12-month long ban, reached his hundred in the last ball of the innings.
Australian batsman David Warner celebrates his first 100 runs for Australia since his 12 month ban during the first international T20 cricket match between Australia and Sri Lanka at the Adelaide Oval on October 27, 2019. (Photo by Brenton EDWARDS / AFP)
Riding on David Warner’s maiden Twenty-20 International hundred, Australia defeated Sri Lanka by 133 runs in first of the three-match series at the Adelaide Oval on Sunday.
In the first innings, the Australian batsmen, led by Warner, ran a mayhem on the Sri Lankan bowlers and posted a massive total of 233. Chasing, the visiting batsmen were never in the contention as the Aussie attack restricted them to a meager total of 99/9 in their quota of 20 overs.
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Winning the toss, Sri Lankan skipper Lasith Malinga opted to bowl first but was proven wrong by the home team’s openers right from the word go. Warner and captain Aaron Finch gave their team a blistering start and completed a century-run stand in less than 10 overs.
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Both the batsmen reached their respective fifties in quick intervals and had the touring bowlers suffering a brutal humiliation. However, Finch fell prey to the chinaman bowler Lakshan Sandakan (1/41) while batting at 64 in the 11th over.
Warner, though, continued with his onslaught and was joined by Glenn Maxwell who carried it from where his captain had left. Both the batsmen remained unaffected by the wicket of Finch and displayed no lack of intent.
Maxwell completed his fifty in jut 22 balls, a testament of how dominant he was there with his hitting, before getting caught by Kushal Perrera off a Dasun Shanka (1/10) delivery at 56 in the third ball of the last over.
Warner, who was playing his first international match on home soil after serving the 12-month long ban, reached his hundred in the last ball of the innings as he squeezed the ball between point and cover for a single.
The Sri Lankan batting line-up proved to to be too futile against the experience of the Australian attack and lost three wickets inside the first four over itself. The spinning duo of Ashton Agar (1/13) and Adam Zampa then (3/14) broke the backbone of the visitors’ middle-order.
Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc were on the money as well as the pacers took four wickets between them and returned with the figures of 2/27 and 2/18 respectively.
33-year-old Warner was awarded the man of the match for his blitzkrieg knock of 100 in just 56 balls.
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