After seeing arch-rivals England register the highest One-Day International score against Pakistan at Trent Bridge a week ago, Australia came out all guns blazing at Pallekele against Sri Lanka to bring up the highest ever Twenty20 International total. The Aussies finished at 263/3 after being put in to bat, beating Sri Lanka's record of 260/6 set against Kenya in 2007. Glenn Maxwell (145 from 65 balls) fell 11 runs short of equalling teammate Aaron Finch's record for the highest individual score in the format.
Maxwell had endured a miserable few months, which saw him being dropped from the Australian ODI team. He did not play in the recently concluded five-match ODI series against Sri Lanka either, which the visitors won 4-1.
Australia had come close to breaking the record in 2013 against England in Birmingham, scoring 248/6. The top three individual T20I scores now all belong to Australians. After Finch and Maxwell, Shane Watson's unbeaten 124 against India is the third highest score.