T20 World Cup: Australia v Pakistan semi-final news and preview

Two years after he debuted in Tasmanian grade cricket, this is the man who stands between Australia and the T20 World Cup final. Ben Horne charts his remarkable rise.

Glenn Maxwell is about to come face-to-face with the monster of his own making in a World Cup showdown for the ages.

Pakistan star Haris Rauf had only ever bowled with a taped up tennis ball when he first arrived in Australia, and it was Maxwell’s ‘everyone is welcome’ style captaincy at the Melbourne Stars which has been credited with helping the rawest of talents blossom into an international thunderbolt.

Maxwell suffered for years in an Australian system which often tried to force square pegs into round holes and was determined to make his own brand of captaincy adaptive and empathetic and encourage those around him to be themselves.

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Haris Rauf is regarded as one of the extraordinary discovery stories in modern cricket history.

Plucked off the streets of Lahore out of 25,000 kids trying out at a talent search, Rauf could barely speak English when brought to the Stars by Victorian chief executive Nick Cummins for the 2019-20 season, but instantly thrived in the culture created by unique spirits Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis and Adam Zampa.

Now the most extraordinary discovery story in modern cricket history has been flipped on its head, with the fast bowling destroyer the key weapon standing between batting lynchpin Maxwell and his Australian team’s bid for World Cup glory in an all-time semi-final match-up.

“Haris wasn’t a first-class cricketer on the cusp of Pakistani selection or anything like that. (Pakistan Super League side) The Qalandars found him in a talent show in the suburbs of Lahore and brought him to Australia having never bowled with a cricket ball before,” Cummins told News Corp.

“He just got better and better and obviously during that year, all of a sudden Pakistan (national team) picked him up and he’s just gone onwards and upwards.

“Culturally it’s a big challenge coming to Australia and he took everything in his stride. His English wasn’t great but he got better and better and he just embraced everything about being with the Stars and Maxi, Stoinis and Zampa, the environment they create where everyone is allowed to be who they are, just made him feel really comfortable.

“I think all three of those guys at various stages of their career, because they’ve been different it may have counted against them.

“Maxi (as captain) just really invests in players as people. He ultimately sets the tone and it’s very, very important to him that people are allowed to be people and cricketers, in that order.”

The turning point in Rauf’s career may have come with a stunning BBL hat-trick against Sydney Thunder at the MCG, but weeks before that Stars teammates were well aware of his freakish abilities and frightening pace and would clamber to get out of his net at training.

Pakistan's Haris Rauf really came of age during his stint with the Melbourne Stars.

The fast bowling destroyer is the key weapon Australia must see off to remain alive.

Rauf was signed by Cummins and Stars coach David Hussey as a back-up to fast bowling legend Dale Steyn, so at training — the right-armer was bowling like his life depended on it.

“He was so desperate to prove what he could do,” said Cummins.

“In the end we were alternating between him and Dale in our best XI because he was holding his own. It’s an incredible journey.”

Despite not making a mark at the World Cup so far, Hussey believes Maxwell is on the verge of a blockbusting performance in the semi-final and says he and Stoinis’ history with Rauf can only be a boost for Australia.

“It’s like having the answers to the test before the exam. Any information you have you put in the memory bank or pass onto your teammates and anything definitely helps when you’re playing a class attack like the Pakistan cricket team have,” said Hussey.

“It’s going to be a really intriguing battle to see who comes out on top.

“The IPL was probably the best I’ve seen Glenn play — he seemed free and happy, he was nice and still at the crease and he hit the ball to all parts.

“I’ve had a lot to do with him and Marcus Stoinis and when the big games are around they definitely come out to play and they have a big performance in them. There’s no bigger stage than the semi-final against Pakistan.”

Field of Dreams which sparked Zampa magic

If you build it he will come. And he did. Aching feet and all.

Australia‘s powerhouse World T20 annihilation of Bangladesh in cricket’s most modern strand of the game has produced a story normally found on a black and white film stored on a dusty library shelf in an old cardboard box with a vinegar smell about it.

In the time-honoured tradition of leg-spinners being very much their own men, Adam Zampa, who mesmerised the Bangladeshi batsmen to harvest 5-19, has moved to the Byron Bay region.

It’s been great for his peace of mind and vegan lifestyle but the greatest challenge in our Covid corrupted world was always going to be getting decent practice.

Adam Zampa bowling at Fripp Oval In Ballina.

Zampa in full flight at the T20 World Cup.

“Yeah it was a funny story,” Phil Melville, President of the Far North Coast Cricket Council said of Zampa’s attempt to prepare himself for the World T20.

“Adam resides near a town called Bangalow near Byron. They have some busted up old synthetic nets and he’s gone there for a roll over and for the next two days he couldn’t walk because of a nerve problem in his legs from hammering the concrete.

“He said ‘mate I can’t do this,’ and called up and said ‘can you get a turf wicket for me?’

“Me being a coach, I said ’of course we can,’ but it was August-September and still AFL season.’’

Then came the magic act.

The ground staff at Fripp Oval, Ballina, where cricket’s Ballina Bears share a ground with the Ballina Bombers AFL team, somehow had a decent deck up and running in just three days.

The club created a turf wicket for Zampa in three days.

Zampa’s very own Field of Dreams had popped up out of nowhere.

“I got some under 19s academy system players down to face him,” said Melville.

“Adam was so appreciative. He himself came from Shellharbour in the same country cricket pathways and could see himself in these kids.”

Then it was showdown time. The international spinner versus the teenage tyros. Even the coach had to adjust his radar.

“One batsman, Tim Martin, from a sleepy town called Casino, jumped at the chance. I was trying to say, ‘get down wicket, use your feet to him, it’s just training,’” said Melville.

“Timmy is saying ‘I can’t, it’s impossible, he‘s too fast in the air.’

“Adam came over later and said, smiling, ‘you know how you’re telling Tim to come up the wicket. You know there’s no batter in international cricket that comes down the wicket to me!”

Zampa has been prolific for Australia at the T20 World Cup.

The temptation is to conclude the boys who faced Zampa hung off every delivery against Bangladesh but, in the time honoured tradition of country cricket, the game is simply part of their life squeezed in with other priorities.

“I missed the game last night,‘’ Martin said. “I didn’t stay up just because we were pouring concrete today so I had to head to bed. How’d he go?”

Bangladesh‘s struggles will certainly make the Fripp Oval memories seem more special to the under-19s who took block against the World T20’s leading wicket-taker.

“It was unbelievable (facing Zampa). I was nervous as all hell,” said Martin, a NSW under 19s prospect.

“It was once in a lifetime. I was pretty confused when I got asked, because I wasn’t sure what he’d be doing down this way. But it was pretty cool, I must admit.

“We did give him a good hit out. It was a good wicket for him, pretty soft so turning a lot so it was actually really good for him.”

When Martin does catch up with the Bangladesh footage his confidence should rise a notch.

There is nothing quite as comforting in knowing that however much you have struggled against a rival, someone has struggled more.

Originally published as T20 World Cup: Australia v Pakistan semi-final news and preview