Only twice in the past 29 T20 internationals at Colombo’s R. Premadasa Stadium had a team scored more than 170 prior to Australia’s T20 World Cup opener.
Both of those totals came in the same match when Zimbabwe chased down Sri Lanka’s 6-173 in January 2024.
But it had been almost eight years since the 180-run threshold had been exceeded at the venue until Australia breached it on Wednesday afternoon.
They did it not by bludgeoning their way there, as we’ve become accustomed to with this Australian side in recent times, but by running their opponents ragged.
With the likes of captain Mitch Marsh and Travis Head up top, followed by big-hitters Tim David, Cameron Green and Marcus Stoinis in the middle order, Australia have undoubtedly evolved into a T20 power unit in the latest two-year World Cup cycle.
But in their first match of this year’s men’s T20 World Cup against Ireland, they demonstrated a different form of aggression with their cricketing nous to combat a sluggish Sri Lankan surface to post a match-winning score.
They exploited the deep pockets of Colombo’s premier cricket venue, running more twos than they had in the side’s 223-match T20 international history.
Their mark of 22 completed doubles blitzed the tournament average of 8.36 and beat their previous best mark of 19 twos run in their loss to Sri Lanka in Geelong in 2017.
It enabled them the post 6-182 after stand-in captain Travis Head opted to bat first for just the third time in Australia’s past 35 instances of winning a T20I coin toss.
And with lower scoring generally the trend in T20 World Cups compared to bilateral internationals and domestic T20s, anything above 180 – especially on the slower Sri Lankan pitches where the average total batting first in the past five years is 148 – can be considered a challenging score.
After Nathan Ellis ripped through the Irish top order with a career-best 4-12, Australia only gave up nine twos off their bowling (Ireland completed 20 in their first match of the tournament) as spinners Adam Zampa (4-23), Matthew Kuhnemann (1-29) and Cooper Connolly (0-26) controlled the middle overs to seal a 67-run win.
“‘Renners’ (Matthew Renshaw) and ‘Stoin’s’ (Marcus Stoinis’) partnership in the middle was really rock solid, kept the (scoring) rate going and got us to a really good score,” Head said post-match.
“We talked about problem solving and adapting on the go – we want to keep that intent, we’ve obviously been an aggressive team over the last couple of years, and we want to try and keep that rate.
“I felt like we did really well in different ways (against Ireland); we hit a lot of twos at the back end until we got to the death, and we were able to finish off and get to a really good score.
“We’re (still) attacking hard throughout the (innings) but that may look different in different conditions, so let’s see what we get (against Zimbabwe).”
Facing spin had loomed as a danger for Australia after they were trounced by Pakistan three-nil in the lead up, with the final two of those among their top three heaviest defeats in the format.
After Ireland reduced them to a precarious 4-88 at the halfway mark of Australia’s tournament opener, they’d have been forgiven for fearing that recent history might be repeating.
But World Cup debutant Matthew Renshaw and veteran allrounder Marcus Stoinis consolidated for a vital 61-run fifth-wicket stand to put Australia back on track, with the pair running 13 twos during their partnership.
Stoinis only hit three boundaries (two fours and a six) in his 45, but still struck at better than 155 as he completed 11 twos in his 29-ball knock.
Renshaw meanwhile didn’t hit a six but ran seven twos and found the rope twice in his 37 from 33 balls.
“I think it’s one of the first times I’ve batted with him,” Renshaw said of his partnership with Stoinis.
“For me, he was really important.
“Just how calm he was made me a lot calmer, and that helped me to get into my innings and then push on.
“Knowing that there’s other guys that can do different skills (allowed me) to trust my skills and the way that I want to play.
“It was nice to get some time in the middle and get the boys decent total.”
With Australia bracing for another slow surface when they return to Premadasa Stadium to face Zimbabwe on Friday (4.30pm AEDT), the enduring American football saying “offence wins games, defence (in this case calculated batting) wins championships” may just play out in this tournament as the perennial world-beaters eye another deep Cup run.
2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup
Australia squad: Mitch Marsh (c), Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Tim David, Ben Dwarshuis, Cameron Green, Nathan Ellis, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Matthew Kuhnemann, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Renshaw, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa. Travelling reserve: Sean Abbott, Steve Smith
Australia’s Group Stage fixtures
February 11: beat Ireland by 67 runs
February 13: v Zimbabwe, R.Premadasa Stadium, Colombo (4:30pm AEDT)
February 16: v Sri Lanka, Pallekele International Stadium, Kandy (Feb 17, 12:30am AEDT)
February 20: v Oman, Pallekele International Stadium, Kandy (Feb 21, 12:30am AEDT)
Australia’s Super Eight fixtures
(Assuming all seeded teams qualify)
February 23: Australia (X2) v West Indies (X3), Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai (Feb 24, 12:30am AEDT)
February 26: India (X1) v Australia (X2), MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai (Feb 27, 12:30am AEDT)
March 1: Australia (X2) v South Africa (X4), Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi, 8:30pm AEDT
Click here for the full tournament schedule
All matches will be broadcast on Amazon’s Prime Video
