Australia vs Sri Lanka: No Marcus Stoinis in eleven for Canberra Test

Following a lacklustre campaign against India in the four-match Test series, Australia are standing on the verge of their maiden series victory after the ball-tampering incident last year. Tim Paine and Co managed to brush away Sri Lanka by an innings and 40 runs at The Gabba in Brisbane. Pat Cummins turned out to be the Player of the Match as he picked up 10 wickets in the match.

The second Test is scheduled to get underway on Friday, February 1 at the Manuka Oval in Canberra and the hosts would want to maintain their dominance over the visitors. In the meantime, Cricket Australia (CA) has put forth the same playing eleven for the upcoming encounter. It also means that Marcus Stoinis, the fast bowling all-rounder, who was added to the squad, won’t be making his Test debut in this series.

Praises for Kurtis Patterson

Talking about the significance of winning and building confidence amongst the players, Australia cricket’s head coach Justin Langer was quoted in cricket.com.au, saying:  “Confidence. It’s not even a cliche – you’ve got to build confidence, so winning is really important. I kept thinking before the game ‘imagine if we get beaten by Sri Lanka at the Gabba?’ That’s why I haven’t slept much the past week.”

Langer also praised Kurtis Patterson, who made his Test debut in Brisbane and scored 30 in the first innings. “I thought Kurtis Patterson looked like a Test batsman. He only got 30 (but) he had such a good rhythm going, and then there was a bit of a thought we might declare near the end of the day (on Friday evening) and that probably just messed his rhythm a little bit. But he’s a good-looking player,” he added.

Here is the playing eleven

Marcus Harris, Joe Burns, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Travis Head, Kurtis Patterson, Tim Paine (C & wk), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Jhye Richardson

Get the latest Cricket News and updates, Match Predictions, Fantasy Cricket Tips and lots more on CricTracker.com.