Marcus Stoinis hits back as World Cup questions remain as Aussies defeat West Indies

Aussie cricket fans have let their feelings known over Marcus Stoinis' position in the Aussie team after the allrounder endured a mixed game in Australia's opening T20 win against West Indies on Friday night. David Warner marked his return to international cricket, after his retirement from the red ball game last month, having blasted 70 off 36 balls to help guide Australia to 7-212 at Bellerive Oval in the first T20 clash against the West Indies.

And Adam Zampa has proven why he is considered by many as the best white-ball specialist in the world having produced a masterful spell in a high-scoring game. The West Indies did not fold and put up a solid run-chase with some power-hitting to fall just 10 runs short of the whopping total.

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Zampa was the star taking 3-26 off four overs in a brilliant spell in Hobart with a number of players chipping in throughout the clash. And while Warner and Zampa proved their worth ahead of the World Cup starting in June, Stoinis once again left the cricket world divided.

The allrounder started the game brightly having bowled well having taken 2-20 off three overs. However, this bowling effort didn't translate into a batting performance having been dismissed for nine runs. His dismissal came after he blasted a monster six out of the oval.

Stoinis had consistently performed well with the bat for Australia in the white-ball game across the years. But the allrounder has now only passed 50 once for Australia since the beginning of 2022. This was against Sri Lanka in October 2022.

There has been criticism over his role in the team for a while with the allrounder dropped to the fringe of the Australian side during the One Day International World Cup. And with Australia opening their 2024 T20 World Cup against Oman in June, fans have once again been left divided after the Melbourne Stars ace put in a mixed performance.

David Warner impresses in Aussie return

Tim David was the star at the end of the innings having added on an unbeaten 37 from 17 balls to help Australia to 212. But the newcomer was full of praise for Warner upon his return and admitted the opener was looking for a few more runs to add to his tally. "He was probably wanting a few more to really cash in, but he played beautifully," David said.

"It felt like we had enough, but it was probably a little bit tighter than it needed to be." Brandon King was the star for the West Indies having hit 53 off 37 balls, but admitted the Aussie bowling was just good enough to get them over the line.

"At no point can you really lose momentum in the run chase - it can hurt you," he said. "We did well to get a good start, so we had wickets at the end but it didn't work for us."

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