Australia defeat as Joel Wilson’s umpiring howlers leave fans fuming
Cricket fans have been left seeing red over two inexplicable decisions by an umpire during Australia’s World Cup opener.
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Australia have cruised to victory in their opening clash at the T20 Cricket World Cup after defeating Oman by 39 runs.
Oman looked on track to producing a historic World Cup upset when they had the Aussies in serious strife early on.
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Australia’s innings got off to a horror start as they fell to 3/50 after 8.3 overs as Marcus Stoinis strolled to the crease to join David Warner.
But the two combined and flipped the script as they piled on a 102 run stand before Warner holed out.
Stoinis was the man of the innings for the Aussies as he produced a blistering display of 66 runs from 35 deliveries to finish not out.
In the end the Aussies finished on 5/164 from their innings before they flexed their muscles with the ball in hand.
Wickets fell early and often as the Aussie bowlers shared the love by sending Oman batsmen back to the sheds.
Stoinis was a clear cut winner for the man of the match after adding 3/19 from his three overs of bowling.
Recap the big moments from the match below.
2.10pm - Tim David makes it look easy
Tim David has hauled in a catch on the boundary line after throwing the ball back into the field of play to himself.
In what used to be a spectacular piece of fielding, David made it look like nothing as he initially caught the ball over his right shoulder before throwing the ball up in the air and regaining it after he hopped back over the rope.
1.40pm - Worrying signs for Mitch Starc
Australia’s number one strike weapon sent shivers through the camp when he pulled up in pain after the first ball in his final over.
Starc let out a brief cry as he hobbled off and began stretching out his left calf. After a lengthy delay, Starc left the field with Glenn Maxwell taking charge of the over.
1.05pm - Aussies in cruise control
After a stellar innings with the willow, Marcus Stoinis is now tearing the heart out of Oman with the ball.
Stoinis has picked up two wickets through his opening two overs as Oman stutter to be 4/35 after eight overs.
12.25pm - Fans fume over umpiring howlers
One of the most dangerous opening over bowlers has done it again with Mitchell Starc removing opener Pratik Athavale for a golden duck.
With the third ball of his over, Starc nailed Athavale’s front pad with an inswinging delivery that hit him on the full.
But umpire Joel Wilson wasn’t biting and kept his arm by his side, giving it not out. Mitch Marsh after a brief discussion sent it upstairs where the DRS showed the ball had hit pad first and was thundering into the stumps.
Two balls later Wilson’s finger was raised after a late swinging delivery hit the outside pads of Oman skipper Aqib Ilyas.
Ilyas reviewed almost instantly with replays confirming the delivery had not only pitched outside of leg stump, but showed it was missing the stumps by more than a balls width.
Cricket fans watching on were not happy with Wilson.
Broadcaster Paul Dennett wrote: “That was a shocker from Joel Wilson. Never looked out. I’d go as far as to say his giving that out should invite discussion over his suitability to even be a World Cup umpire.”
Code Sports’ Daniel Cherny wrote: “What is not often appreciated is that giving Joel Wilson games early in an ICC tournament is a great way to ensure DRS is operating smoothly.”
Another user wrote: “Joel Wilson is the worst umpire in world cricket. How does he keep getting a gig at elite level?”
12pm - Warner brings up his half century
David Warner has played a vital role for the Aussies after getting through the early collapse and bring up a hard fought half century.
As his fellow top order fell around him, Warner stood tall and chipped away before he brought up the 50 with his first six of the innings.
In truly unfamiliar territory, it took Warner 46 deliveries to reach the milestone.
Five deliveries later it was all over for the Aussie opener after holing out in the deep and walking off with 56 runs to his name.
11.40am - Stoinis unleashes in devastating style
Australia went 14 overs without hitting a single six, Marcus Stoinis then took matters into his own hands in the 15th over.
The powerful middle order batter unleashed four sixes during the over as he flipped the momentum back in Australia’s favour.
Stoinis continued his onslaught as he put Oman on the back foot, reaching his half century after only 27 deliveries with a six that sailed out of the stadium.
11.15am - Screamer leaves Aussies in all sorts
Oman are on a roll with Glenn Maxwell being sent packing for a first ball duck after an absolute screamer from Aqib Ilyas.
Maxwell got a hold of a delivery but Ilyas was up to the task as he dove sharply to his left and hauled in the spectacular catch.
FlashCric wrote: “One of the all-time catches by the Oman skipper has Glenn Maxwell going for a duck. Is there an upset brewing here?”
One user wrote: “THAT IS AN ABSURD GRAB FROM THE OMAN SKIPPER.”
A second wrote: “Glenn Maxwell gone first ball to an absolute screamer of a catch from Oman.”
A third added: “That. Is. A. Catch! Australia are in all sorts!”
The loss of Maxwell dropped the Aussies to 3/50 after 8.3 overs. His latest dismissal continues a horror run of form for Maxwell.
The normally dominant batter has failed to fire over his last 10 T20 innings, registering five ducks in that span while scoring a combined 52 runs.
11.05am - Act of savagery exposed as Warner makes history
Sharp keeping work almost sent David Warner on his way but the Aussie opener managed to keep his balance and keep his left foot grounded behind the crease.
The third umpire took a long hard look at Warner’s back foot as it looked to have lifted off the ground, but it wasn’t to be for Oman.
Moments later Warner scored a single to move to the top of the leaderboard for Australian run scorers in T20 internationals on 3121 runs.
He surpassed Aaron Finch who was in the commentary box. Finch applaued his former opening partner before Warner waved back with a big grin.
“The most disappointed man in the ground,” Nasser Hussain said in commentary as the cameras panned to Finch.
“He was appealing for the stumping a minute ago Aaron Finch.”
The remark from Hussain left the commentary box and Finch in tears as they all broke out into laughter.
10.45am - Oman claim their first wicket
It’s the dream start for Oman with opener Travis Head departing after he smashed a ball straight to the fielder.
A fuller delivery tempted Head into the blistering drive down the ground but his shot went directly into the hands of Khalid Kail to gift Bilal Khan the opening wicket.
10.25am - Aussies leave out Cummins and Green
Aussie Test skipper Pat Cummins will be watching on from the sidelines after he was overlooked for the World Cup opener in favour of Nathan Ellis.
Australia XI: David Warner, Travis Head, Mitch Marsh (c), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Tim David, Matthew Wade (wk), Mitch Starc, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood.
Oman XI: Kashyap Prajapati, Pratik Athavale (wk), Aqib Ilyas (c), Zeeshan Maqsood, Khalid Kail, Ayaan Khan, Shoaib Khan, Mehran Khan, Shakeel Ahmad, Kaleemullah, Bilal Khan.
10.20am - Aussie great’s big call on David Warner
Ricky Ponting says the impending loss of David Warner from the Australian squad will hit the team hard.
Warner was thrust into the spotlight with many believing the bulldozing opener shouldn’t have been included in the World Cup squad.
Despite a lean run in the Indian Premier League, Ponting believes Warner is just the man to help take the Aussies deep into the tournament.
“He’s the sort of character you want to have around your team, especially in big tournaments like World Cups,” Ponting said to ESPNcricinfo.
“And he’s just one of those natural winners. Everything he does, he wants to win. You can see that with his attitude in the field and the way he goes about his cricket.
“So there’s more than just the runs that we’ll be missing when Warner finally is gone. But hopefully the depth of Australian cricket is good enough to find someone to come in and fill that void.”
Fans had hoped the devastating form of Jake Fraser-McGurk throughout the recent IPL series would have been enough to see him thrown in at the top of the order.
But the Aussie youngster missed out and has instead been named as a travelling reserve for the tournament.
His “extreme talent” leaves Ponting confident he’ll step into the role that Warner is set to vacate once the World Cup is over.
“I’d be very surprised if he (Fraser-McGurk) doesn’t go straight into the T20 team when David’s finally done,” Ponting said.
“I was lucky enough to coach him at the Delhi Capitals this year as well. He’s got extreme talent.”
Originally published as Australia defeat as Joel Wilson’s umpiring howlers leave fans fuming
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