FORMULA WON
NT’s Short part of winning combination in Aussie T20 victory over Poms
THE new scenario for Australian white-ball success has to include 150km/h bowling bookends able to be deployed at maximum effort, and at least 20 ball bursts of Lynnsanity.
That is highly dependent, of course, upon the ongoing fitness of slingshot slugger Chris Lynn, Mitchell Starc, when the schedule allows him to play, and the best bolt of lightning to wear a green and gold uniform in 12 months; big Billy Stanlake.
Stick thin and tall as a tree Stanlake is 204cm of manna from bowling heaven for national selectors who have seen speed machines James Pattinson and now Nathan CoulterNile fall victim to injury.
The bubble wrap should come out between games for Stanlake who on a sultry summer night at the MCG sent the radar in to rarely seen areas in a romping Australian Twenty20 win over England after Lynn (31 off 19 balls) smashed four fours and two sixes in a seat-rattling early assault.
But first there was big Billy, who before the sun set had the ball talking, and the English batsman baulking.
Three balls in a row in his first over Stanlake was through English southpaw Dawid Malan before he could get his bat down from its hip high starting position.
The speed graph for Stanlake’s opening over built like a set of stairs, from a base of 146k/m then topping out at 149.7, with a wicket in there to boot, courtesy of a brilliant Aaron Finch catch.
His 2-28, and some seriously good fielding, helped the home team keep the bullocking English bats to just 7-137.
Lynn first, then the Territory’s D’Arcy Short (36 not out) and hometown hero Glenn Maxwell (39 off 26) helped gobble up the target in a six-filled send-off – Australia clubbed seven to England’s one – with the tri-series set to end in New Zealand where a trophy surely awaits the Aussies.
Beyond the blistering ball speed from big Billy and the knuckle-ball control of medium-paced marksman Andrew Tye, Australia, which collected a third straight T20 victory to conclude a long hot summer, seems to have finally landed on the magic recipe for short-form success.
Rejuvenation through nomination of the Big Bash’s best players, a competition watched with an analytical eye by selector Mark Waugh and assistant coach, soon-to-be head T20 coach, Ricky Ponting, has finally hit the bullseye on a dartboard.