Australia win. NZ qualify. AFG batting. Much left arm seam chat. And Kane is back
Day 20 from the World Cup
Australia win
Australia win! By 4 runs. Against Afghanistan.
They went into this match with high hopes of a healthy victory to give them some sort of boost to their net run rate, they left it just glad to have got the points for the win.
Australia have always been behind in this tournament, ever since they got Kiwi’d in their first game. Then, in what was on paper a fairly evenly matched game, the washout against England probably affected both teams equally – somewhat depending on who you had winning that one.
However they blew a great chance against Ireland to improve their net run rate, despite obliterating their top order. So they can have few complaints about how things have turned out.
Thankfully for haters of working out complicated mathematical formulas the equation is now simple:
If England beat Sri Lanka, England go through, if Sri Lanka beat England, Australia go through.
Speaking of which New Zealand are now the first team into the semi finals. The game against Ireland was a pretty perfect run out for them in the end, providing enough of a test but still one they were able to win comfortably.
Perhaps of slight concern will be the form of Devon Conway, who played a strangely disjointed 28 from 33 balls. Not the only time this tournament he’s looked shoddy since that great early knock. And the fact that Josh Little’s hat trick saw off any chance of Neesham and Santner getting any batting practice. But Daryl Mitchell did at least get a bit of a hit.
Some might have seen this game as a good opportunity to give Milne his first run out of the tournament, but given Ireland’s weakness against spin and how effective Santner and Sodhi were it’s hard to really argue that case.
All in all New Zealand go into the semi finals in a confident mood, Kane Williamson’s knock undoubtedly a boost and with strong options on the bench should they want to switch things up.
However the fact that they lost what was both their hardest and most high-pressure game will give other teams cause for optimism as well.
Afghanistan exit interview
I feel like I have barely mentioned them all tournament. Having 40% of your matches washed out is horrible.
If you remember I had Afghanistan up a few spots higher on my power list, but I was concerned enough to mention they might be too high, and also point out they only played one game.
Since then Sri Lanka beat them easily. And I was wavering a little more, but I thought they bowled well against Australia today.
I would love to give a big exit interview on them like I have with Ireland, but three games is all we have. An exit interview seems premature, I feel like it could be a preview instead.
Basically, on paper they profile like a bowling team, averaging 22 with the ball, and the same with the bat. At about the same strike rate. When they get to this level their batting doesn’t hold up, while their bowling looks fine.
They are trying to work on that, picking more specialist batters, like Usman Ghani and Ibrahim Zadran. They batted numbers 1 and 3 today. Both can bat, but both also struggle to strike. Gulbadin is a throwback to the old days of Afghan batting where everyone was a number eight. They have tried that method, and it doesn’t work consistently against the best teams. So they really want to match up the guys who smash it with the guys who bat long.
You look at this and it’s real clear. Ghani and Ibrahim are both averaging over 30, but their strike rates are incredibly low. The only other player with an average like that is Najibullah, and he matches that with a top strike rate. But then the others can strike at various level, but all average under 25.
This is a different problem than normal for Afghanistan, but it comes from the fact that they have never produced specialist batters. Until we start to see consistent top order players from there, they are a spoiler team at this level.
In terms of development though, not playing in the qualifiers - which I am sure they are happy about - and then having two washouts is a bit of a missed opportunity. Particularly looking at the amount of cricket Ireland and Netherlands have got. World Cups you play against full strength teams trying to win, you can get a good idea of who can perform at this level, and it gives great experience going ahead. Coming all the way to Australia for three games is a bit meh.
But at least they went out in the last game with a bang. Would have been awful if they were towelled up here. The bowled really well and then started well with the bat before the triple collapse on 99. But they still got close.
It’s not nothing, but it’s also not much to take home from an entire World Cup.
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