Paceman tells debutant to back his pace after Sri Lanka's batsmen go on the attack at the MCG
Cummins backs Billy after trying debut
Australian paceman Pat Cummins has urged teammate Billy Stanlake to put his poor T20 international debut behind him and back his pace.
Quick Single: Report, highlights from MCG thriller
Unlike fellow debutants Michael Klinger and Ashton Turner, Stanlake struggled in Friday night's five-wicket loss to Sri Lanka at the MCG.
His first two deliveries were wides, then he lost his delivery stride as his three overs cost 42 runs, including eight wides.
He was also on the receiving end of an outrageous ramp shot from Niroshan Dickwella, which sailed into the MCG's Members Stand for six.
It's unclear whether Stanlake will stay in the attack for Sunday's second match of the three-game series in Geelong, with uncapped Perth Scorchers quick Jhye Richardson waiting in the wings.
"It's the nature of T20 cricket - if you live and die by the results, you'll lose your hair pretty quickly," Cummins said.
"(Stanlake) bowled with good pace, (but) he hadn't played many games in the last couple of weeks.
"He's been on the ODI tour, so he'll be better for the run.
"Hopefully, on a bit of a quicker wicket here, he'll show what he has."
Stanlake suffered the most of Australia's bowlers as Sri Lanka made a speedy start to their run chase.
But the hosts managed to put the brakes on and scores were tied for the last ball of the match, with Chamara Kapugedera hitting Andrew Tye for the match-winning boundary.
"We probably let them get away from us a bit too early, but it was a pretty great result getting that close," Cummins said.
"We probably weren't as disciplined with our bowling as we could have been."
It was notable that while Australia hit 13 boundaries, Sri Lanka managed 21.
"We weren't too far off - they bowled quite well, but we got enough runs," Cummins said.
"It's just continuing to be quite fearless and when we're bowling, working out the areas they're going to hit to.
"They hit a few boundaries - try to minimise that, try to get them to hit to the big boundaries, and hold our nerve a little bit longer."