Marcus Stoinis: Australia’s chase-master in T20 World Cups continues impressive run

Australian all-rounder Marcus Stoinis continued his fine run in T20s with yet another match-winning contribution for his country during the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup in a game against Scotland on Sunday.

In the match against Namibia, Stoinis scored 59 runs in just 29 balls, with nine fours and two sixes. His runs came at a strike rate of 203.44.

In the ongoing tournament, Stoinis is having a brilliant run as an all-rounder. In four games and three innings, he has scored 156 runs at an average of 78.00 and a strike rate of 190.24, with two half-centuries. His best score is 67*. He is the second-highest run-getter in the tournament so far, next to Afghanistan’s Rahmanullah Gurbaz .

In four games, Stoinis has also taken six wickets at an average of 8.66 and an economy rate of 5.77, with the best figures of 3/19. He is the joint fifth-highest wicket-taker in the tournament.

Stoinis has been absolutely clutch for Australia in the T20 World Cup while chasing. He has managed scores of 24*, 16*, 40*, 7, 59* and 59 while chasing for Aussies in the tournament. He has scored 205 runs in these six innings at an average of 102.50 and a strike rate of 178.26, with two half-centuries.

His T20 WC record as a batter is also really great, having scored 362 runs in 15 matches, 11 innings at an average of 60.33 and a strike rate of 166.05, with three half-centuries. His best score is 67*.

In 29 T20 matches this year across the international and franchise cricket, Stoinis has scored 716 runs at an average of 32.54 and a strike rate of 145.23, with a century and four half-centuries. His best score is 124*, which came in the Indian Premier League against Chennai Super Kings at their home arena of Chepauk Stadium, through which he helped his side chase down 211 runs single-handedly. He has also taken 25 wickets at an average of 16.56 and an economy rate of 7.96, with the best figures of 3/18. This establishes him as one of the best all-rounders in T20 cricket out now.

Coming to the match, Australia put Scotland to bowl first. After losing Michael Jones early, George Munsey and Brandon McMullen put a quickfire 89-run partnership to put Scotland back in the game. A fine knock from skipper Richie Berrington took Scotland to 180/5 in 20 overs.

Glenn Maxwell was the pick of the bowlers for Australia. Ashton Agar, Nathan Ellis and Adam Zampa got a wicket each.

In the run-chase of 181 runs, Australia lost some early wickets and were 60/3 at one point. Then, an 80-run partnership between Travis Head and Marcus Stoinis took Australia to the brink of a win and Tim David applied some fine finishing to get the win with two balls left.

With this win, Australia tops Group B with four wins in four games and eight points. Scotland failed to qualify for the Super Eights, finishing third with two wins, a loss and a no result, giving them five points. Defending champions England have walked into the Super Eights with this big assistance from their arch-rivals, as they also have the same win-loss record and points as Scotland, just the higher net-run-rate.