Australia’s Twenty20 captain George Bailey has conceded that his side are underachievers in the shortest format of the game.
Ranked seventh in the T20 standings, only New Zealand, Bangladesh, Ireland and Zimbabwe are beneath Australia.
Australia play Sri Lanka at ANZ Stadium on Saturday night and Bailey hopes victory there will kick-start Australia’s rise up the T20 rankings.
“I still think we’re certainly under-achieving in T20 cricket, more so than in any of the other formats,” Bailey said on Friday.
“There’s no reason why, with the players we have, the depth we have, we shouldn’t have a side that are consistently in the top couple of teams in the world.
“That’s something that still irks me a little bit and something we’re working towards.”
Twenty20 cricket and entertainment go hand-in-hand and Bailey believes that with the talent on show, there’s no doubt the crowd will get their full entertainment value.
The skipper is expecting David Warner and Aaron Finch to provide the fireworks by coming out and playing their natural, explosive games.
“Davey Warner’s obviously got a nice little trick shot up his sleeve,” Bailey said, referring to the switch-hit for six Warner pulled off at ANZ last summer.
“He’s someone we want to give that freedom to.”
Finch is another player who Bailey wants to see take his opportunity on the big stage.
“They way Finch bats and the way he takes the game on, that’s exactly how we want him to play here.”
“I think that will be a real key message to all the players, particularly those coming out of the Big Bash.”
“All those guys that have been picked on merit have really deserved to be here and we want them to do exactly what they have been doing in the past.”
Bailey said the only adjustment players need to make from ODI to T20 cricket is a slight change of mindset in the way they approach the game.
“It’s the same game, but just with accelerated decision making and upping the ante a little earlier,” he said.
Meanwhile, new Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews is hoping his team build on their good performances from the ODI series, especially with the ball.
He’s expecting spinner Ajantha Mendis to be their x-factor.
“The wicket looks a bit slower, but we have to see how it plays first,” Mathews said.
“Mendis has always been a good T20 bowler and I think he’s going to be a really good one for us.”
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