AUS vs ENG 2018: Stoinis hits the ball hard, says Kevin Pietersen

Stoinis scored 60 in a losing cause in Melbourne.

Stoinis - Pietersen are team mates at Melbourne Starts. (Getty)

According to his Melbourne Stars teammate Kevin Pietersen, Australian all-rounder Marcus Stoinis is one of the hardest hitters of the cricket ball. 

Playing his first international match in Australia, Stoinis found the boundary rope five times and went over it twice in hammering 60 from just 40 balls in a five-wicket loss to England.

"He hits the ball, I tell you something now, harder than anyone I've seen," Pietersen told Wide World of Sports.

"I've seen (Chris) Gayle, Yuvraj (Singh), (Mitchell) Marsh ... I've seen them all hit it, Stoinis hits the ball harder than them."

Former Test batsman Mike Hussey told cricket.com.au earlier this month that Stoinis would be the perfect replacement for Mitchell Marsh who has found a new lease of life in Test cricket. 

"He's a good batsman, he's played some excellent innings in one-day cricket for Australia and that might be a nice stepping stone for him to come up in the Test arena," Hussey told cricket.com.au.

"He can really help out with the ball, can provide some competition for Mitch Marsh in the team and is handy to help out in both disciplines."

Australia after winning the Ashes urn started their ODI campaign with a defeat. Batting first Aaron Finch's 9th ODI ton powered Australia to 304. Just when Australia thought it might be enough, England's top order batsman Jason Roy had other plans. He scored 180 and made the chase look a rather easy for England as they won by 5 wickets and took a much-needed lead in the series. 

 
 

By Anshuman Roy - 16 Jan, 2018

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