On-song Australia eye series win

Overview

Australia v Sri Lanka, 2nd T20I
The Gabba, Brisbane
Wednesday, 30 October; 6:10pm local, 8:10am GMT

Australia gave further evidence of their dominance at home, outclassing Sri Lanka in all three departments in the first T20I on Sunday, 27 October. While skipper Aaron Finch and his opening partner David Warner were at their brutal best, Glenn Maxwell treated the Adelaide Oval crowd with his power-hitting and high-class innovation. They were up to the task with the ball too, as none of the five bowlers used by Finch conceded over seven runs per over in defence of 233.

Mitchell Starc, their most experienced bowler, won't be available for Wednesday's clash, but his absence presents a great opportunity for one of Billy Stanlake and Sean Abbott to make a mark.

The visitors' hopes of replicating their heroics from the previous tour in 2017 might've suffered a major jolt after the heavy defeat. However, an experienced leader in Lasith Malinga knows a bit about rising from challenging situations, and he could well be the driving force to lift the young side.

Remember the last time

The toss went against Aaron Finch, but what followed was a complete dominance by the hosts after they were put in to bat. The openers put on 122 for the first wicket, with the skipper leading the charge in the early part of the innings, scoring a 36-ball 64. His wicket, however, provided no respite to the visitors, as Maxwell wowed with his enterprising 28-ball 62. The standout performer, though, was David Warner, who rose from his poor run in the Ashes series to register his maiden T20I hundred.

After being reduced to 13/3 in the fourth over, Sri Lanka never got a chance to recover and finished at 99/9 at the end of 20 overs, giving Australia their biggest T20I win in terms of runs.

What they said

David Warner, Australia batsman:"We ought to come out and try to be positive with the bat. I think the way forward is exactly that, where we try and set the tone at the top, and then Maxi [Maxwell] coming in and doing what he does. For once, the plan actually came off. That was, all in all, a great batting performance, and obviously, the bowlers finished it off there."

Lasith Malinga, Sri Lanka captain:"This is a good learning phase for our young bowlers. We know we are playing against a tough team, but this is an opportunity for the inexperienced players to get used to the conditions before the World Cup. We want to compete well in the next matches."

Conditions

Partly cloudy conditions are expected during the start of the game, with light winds around. Teams chasing had won each of the four completed games played here during the 2018-19 Big Bash League.