Stoinis reached his half-century in just 17 balls and finished with an 18-ball 59* much to the delight of the Australian fans at home. In this knock decorated by four boundaries and six sixes, he made a mockery of Sri Lankan bowlers including Lahiru Kumara, Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theeksh
With this win, Australia is in fourth position in the points table with 2 points, one place below Asian champions Sri Lanka, who are in third with two points.
A 69-run stand for second wicket between Nissanka (40) and Silva (26) kept Lankans in a good position but the Aussies made comeback with some quick wickets, exploiting Lankans' tendency to hit loose shots
"I was just told to play the first 6 overs and then continue, the aim basically was to last 10 overs, but we were chasing a low score. We wanted to win within 17 overs, Charith (Asalanka) told me to not put myself under any pressure. He then thanked the crowd," and explained the team managem
Starting the chase, Sri Lanka openers Kusal Mendis and Dhananjaya de Silva got the team off to a flier, helping the team reach the fifty-run mark within the powerplay. Both the batters looked to be aggressive from the beginning, taking apart the Irish bowlers.
An unbeaten batting performance from Max ODowd went in vain as Sri Lanka defeated the Netherlands by 16 runs to secure a place in Super-12 phase of the tournament
An unbeaten batting performance from Max ODowd went in vain as Sri Lanka defeated the Netherlands by 16 runs to secure a place in the Super-12 stage of the tournament
A late flourish from Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Dasun Shanaka coupled with Mendis' brilliant inning saw Sri Lanka post a challenging total against the Dutch team who have underperformed with the bat in the tournament.
Sanath Jayasuriya, Chaminda Vaas, Roshan Mahanama, Lasith Malinga were some of the former players who took to social media to express their happiness after the win
Asalanka scored a match-winning ton, helping Sri Lanka make history by guiding them to a thrilling four-run win over Australia in the fourth ODI at Colombo and also to their first bilateral series win at home over the mighty Aussies in three decades.