All-rounder Mitchell Marsh said on Monday that defending champions Australia were confident of coming back from their opening defeat at the T20 World Cup, declaring: “Our best is the best in the world”. The hosts suffered a crushing 89-run loss to New Zealand in Saturday’s tournament opener and face Sri Lanka, who won their first game of the Super 12 on Tuesday, in Perth. Marsh said Australia would remain loyal to the same eleven to turn their fortunes around. “I think we have a lot of confidence in our group that once we’re on the right track, we’re going to be very hard to stop,” Marsh told reporters.
“Of course we didn’t start well last night, but we have a lot of confidence.
“We know our best is the best in the world. So hopefully we can turn it around against Sri Lanka.
“(It’s) the nature of the tournament. You lose one game, you have your back against the wall. Hopefully we play well, we get past that. Then we go on to England.”
Perth-born Marsh said conditions in his home country would give Australia an edge over Sri Lanka, which is largely dependent on their spin attack.
“We know these conditions very well. And the stadium should suit us more,” said Marsh.
Marsh backed the team’s fast bowlers Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins, who were expensive against New Zealand, to get good in Perth.
“We will definitely have an aggressive approach. I think we will definitely see a big response from them after the other night,” Marsh predicted.
Sri Lankan spinners Maheesh Theekshana and Wanindu Hasaranga played a key role in the team’s opening nine-wicket lane cruise through Ireland on Sunday.
The pair worried the Australians when they toured Sri Lanka in June, but conditions are likely to be different in Australia.
“Hopefully spider doesn’t play a big role in Perth and we can really attack them,” Marsh said.
“They’re two important bowlers and if we can beat them, I think we’ll be ahead of the game.”
Theekshana said Sri Lanka radiated confidence after their thumping win over Ireland, but was wary of the injured hosts.
“They lost to New Zealand and we won, so we have more confidence than the Australian team,” Theekshana, who returned impressive numbers of 2-19 on Sunday, told reporters.
“Always nice to win a game and we always hope to go for the four teams so we have to beat them.
promoted
“They also have really good fast bowlers and spinners. They are last year’s champions, so they have to bounce back if they want to be in the tournament.”
(This story was not edited by DailyExpertNews staff and was generated automatically from a syndicated feed.)
Topics mentioned in this article