Published: Oct 28, 2019, 01:20 PM (IST)
Edited: Oct 28, 2019, 01:20 PM (IST)
Australia fast bowler Mitchell Starc will miss the second T20I against Sri Lanka to be played on October 30 as he is to attend his brother’s wedding.
Starc has been granted leave by Cricket Australia and will rejoin the squad for the series finale on November 1 in Melbourne. The left-arm pacer was a star performer in Australia’s biggest ever win in T20I cricket as they pummelled Sri Lanka by 134 runs in Adelaide on Sunday.
Starc took 2/18 from four overs as Sri Lanka hobbled to 99/9 in chase of a massive 234 at the Adelaide Oval.
Starc’s brother, Brandon, is a world-class high-jumper who is a Commonwealth Games gold medalist (2018 Gold Coast) and a silver medalist at the Summer Youth Olympics in 2010.
His absence opens the door for the other claimants including Billy Stanlake and Sean Abbott who was added to the squad as a replacement for injured Andrew Tye.
Pat Cummins, who also took a couple of wickets, says Australia aren’t going to take Sri Lanka lightly despite their listless show on Sunday. “They’re a really good side; looking down their team sheet yesterday, even some on their bench, they’ve got some pretty dangerous batters that didn’t fire yesterday. We’ve got to be pretty wary of them,” he said.
Having taken a 1-0 lead in the three-match series, Australia will hope to clinch it with a victory in the second T20I to be played at The Gabba in Brisbane on Wednesday.
The fixture kickstarted Australia’s preparations for the ICC T20 World Cup which they host next year.
“Yep, 12 months, the campaign starts now. It’s a great way to start the summer and review a game like you would and fortunately yesterday there were hardly any negatives, it was all positives. There’s no reason why we can’t (grow into a legitimate World Cup threat),” Cummins was quoted as saying by AAP.
