Australia on Wednesday named Billy Stanlake as the replacement for Mitchell Starc for the second T20I of the three-match series against Sri Lanka.
Starc had to attend his brother's wedding and as a result, he opted out from the second T20I against the Islanders.
"It is always exciting to have boys from Queensland playing at the Gabba. Hopefully, there will be some good support for him. He has bowling good pace. I think he has bowled some good areas as well, more importantly," International Cricket Council (ICC) quoted Australia's coach Justin Langer as saying.
"At this level, where he lands them is more important than the pace. That said, with someone who comes as high as he does, he has got that natural pace. That's why he's such a great prospect for us," he added.
Stanlake had produced the bowling figures of 4/8 in 2018 in a T20I match against Pakistan. Langer pointed to that spell, saying that those bowling figures are an indication of his capability and qualities.
"We saw him in Zimbabwe against Pakistan a year or so ago, and he just cleaned them up with the new ball. He bowled fast, he bowled bouncy. The nice thing about the squad we've got at the moment is we've got options. They're really adaptable," Langer said.
Australia had defeated Sri Lanka by 134 runs in the first T20I. David Warner went on to score his maiden century in the shortest format of the game for Australia.
Glenn Maxwell played a knock of 62 runs off just 28 balls. Australia restricted Sri Lanka to 99/9 in the allotted twenty overs.
Australia takes on Sri Lanka in the second T20I of the three-match series later today.
( With inputs from ANI )
