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Australia wicket-keeper Matthew Wade revealed his side must win the spin battle against Sri Lanka if they want to make it two wins from two in the Super 12s.
Wade and Marcus Stoinis put on 40 in 26 balls to guide Australia to a five-wicket victory over South Africa in their opening game of the ICC Men’s World T20 2021.
And next up for Justin Langer’s men in Group 1 is a Sri Lanka side who chased down 172 to beat Bangladesh and will come armed with several spinners at the Dubai International Stadium in the UAE.
“I think every game in this tournament is going to be hard work,” said Wade, who has had to adjust to operating in the middle order with the bat rather than at the top of the innings as he has done in recent years.
“As we’re seeing throughout the tournament, every team in the competition on their day are going to be hard to beat, so Sri Lanka is certainly no different. They have had a few more games leading in than what we have as well.
“No, they’re a terrific team. They’re going to challenge us with a fair bit of spin, I would’ve thought. There could be up to 12 overs of spin, I reckon, that we’ll probably face tomorrow.
“And it’s going to be hard work. And we’ll have to be at our best to beat any team in this tournament, and Sri Lanka will certainly be no different tomorrow.
“They have some terrific spin options and match winners, especially. We’ll have to be at the top of our game against the spin.
“We’ve got some terrific players of spin ourselves, [Steve] Smith and [Glenn] Maxwell, those guys will be really important for us tomorrow.
“Hopefully they can bat through that middle over period and we can back end it a little bit more than what we did in the first game.
“It’s an exciting challenge. We know if we’re going to go deep into this tournament then we’ll have to play spin really well. And we’re looking forward to the challenge tomorrow.”
Wade revealed Australia are leaving no stone unturned in their preparation and reckons most fans do not appreciate the amount of work that goes on behind the scenes in the shortest form of the game.
He added: “There’s plenty of planning that goes into T20. I’d love a lot of the public and the fans to see actually how much planning goes in. It’s probably the most planned format, I think, over the three.
“The bowlers and Andrew McDonald, the bowling coach, spent a lot of time with the batters. And Kusal Perera is a world-class hitter, and he’ll be looking to go hard against our bowlers. But that’s the great thing about T20 and about World Cups, the best versus the best.
“We’re pretty confident that the guys that open the bowling for us can do a really good job and we can get early wickets and put them under a little bit of pressure. But, yeah, as excited as anyone to see those contests tomorrow.”
Sri Lanka coach Mickey Arthur insists the key for his side is to keep improving on their journey in the tournament having come through the first round before the Super 12s and is confident they can beat anyone.
He said: “For us, it’s just about us improving all the time. And every time we go out and play, I’ve applauded the players in terms of intensity, in terms of skill, in terms of execution.
“And the players have been outstanding. And we just are improving. For us, it’s about our journey at the moment. It’s not a sprint. Our players are getting better and better.
“So I’m really, really happy. The qualifiers were tough. There was a lot of pressure on us there. Now the pressure is reversed because we come into this space with not much to lose.
“We’re playing good cricket. We’re very dangerous. The players are very clear on what their roles are, and we’re confident we can beat anybody on our day.”
