'How cool': Aussie PM steals the show in Canberra T20 match
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has become the talk of the cricket world after an eye-catching cameo in an exhibition match in Canberra.
Mr Morrison was on hand in the nation's capital for the Australia PM's XI match against Sri Lanka on Thursday night.
Not content with just having his title associated with the fixture, the PM decided to throw himself right into the action.
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The 51-year-old took up the role of running the drinks for the Aussies and he seemed to be enjoying every second of it.
The nation's leader - dressed in work pants, white shirt and tie - was more formal than your average runner.
However, the outfit was complimented by a green and gold Aussie cap, plus a pair of white sneakers to give him a more ‘authentic’ vibe.
Australia's players could be seen having a chuckle amongst each other as ScoMo came dashing out to the centre pitch at one stage, with a tray of drinks at his disposal.
Viewers also found the surprise addition to the Aussie squad amusing, as Mr Morrison began trending on social media.
love a bit of scomo https://t.co/qESIGCVBPg
— West is Best 🏆 (@UpTheCoasters) October 24, 2019
Australian PM Scott Morrison surprised 🤨 everyone at the Manuka Oval in Canberra by carrying drinks during warm-up game between PMXI and Sri Lanka. #PMXI didn't disappoint him as they won by 1 wicket.#PMXIvSL #SLvsPMXI #Cricket 🏏 #Australia #PrimeMinister #ScottMorrison pic.twitter.com/aZTLsnbfEU
— Vikas Kohli (@imvikaskohli) October 24, 2019
Forget about running drinks for the Australian rugby and cricket teams. Scott Morrison won’t be taken seriously on these stunts until he does the nude bike ride in Newtown and the winter solstice nude swim. Everything else is irrelevant. #auspol #qt
— Eddy Jokovich (@EddyJokovich) October 24, 2019
I want to commend @ScottMorrisonMP for bringing the drinks on today. Probably a bittersweet moment because it will be the best thing he's ever done and he will be unable to surpass it. #PmxivsSl #PMXIvSL #Cricket #auspol
— Benn Glazier (@bennglazier) October 24, 2019
Austalia's PM @ScottMorrisonMP comes out with drinks at the recent PM's XI game.
How cool is that? pic.twitter.com/8PzZRAKn26— Yeshwanth Reddy (@yeshred7) October 24, 2019
How cool that the #PrimeMinister @ScottMorrisonMP comes out with the drinks at the Prime Minister's XI game in Canberra pic.twitter.com/lx14PRRfS3 pic.twitter.com/ORSSW3mIQx
— Jakir Hossain (@JakirHo86545903) October 24, 2019
Ex-coach’s son stars for Aussies
Harry Nielsen, the son of former Australian coach Tim Nielsen, guided the PM's XI to a narrow victory against Sri Lanka in the T20 match.
The hard-hitting wicketkeeper blasted 79 off 49 balls and also took three catches as the PM's XI chased down Sri Lanka's 8-131 with one ball and one wicket to spare.
Nielsen, 24, has played just 11 first class matches but the opener proved he could handle an international attack through his match-winning knock.
"I couldn't quite get the job done but it was nice to get a few runs," said Nielsen, who was dismissed with nine runs still required and five balls remaining.
"I was just trying to take it as deep as possible. We kept losing wickets at probably the wrong time and their spinners bowled really well through the middle, I just tried to hit the gaps and run hard."
Sri Lanka could be in for a tough three-game T20 series against Australia next week as they struggled to score against an attack that produced 53 dot balls.
In contrast, a wide from Kasun Rajitha effectively handed the PM XI's victory with the extra carrying the hosts to 9-132.
Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat but only three players made more than 11 runs, with Oshada Fernando top scoring with 38.
Canberra local Djali Bloomfield (2-17) started the slide when opener Danushka Gunathilaka edged to Nielsen in the second over.
Test star Peter Siddle (1-15) and veteran allrounder Dan Christian (2-16) were the pick of the bowlers with sharp three-over spells.
"It was a good result in the end, Harry looked after us, that's for sure," Siddle said.
"We gave them a few more than we would have liked in the end but we took wickets along the way which kept us in a good position."
Outside man-of-the-match Nielsen, the PM XI's effort with the bat was woeful with only Christian (13) joining Nielsen in double figures.
Former international Chris Lynn was a notable failure, scoring just three, after grumbling earlier in the week about being left out of Australia's T20 squad.
Lakshan Sandakan (3-21) was the pick of the Sri Lankan attacking, making inroads into the PM XI's batting order in the absence of rested skipper Lasith Malinga.
With AAP