T20 Cricket World Cup: England defeats New Zealand, throwing Australia’s hopes of a finals berth into more doubt
Every Australian was barracking for New Zealand to upset England. It didn’t happen. Here’s why that’s bad news for our Aussie cricketers.
This was the message force-fed to the host nation by old rivals England (6-179) who roared to life to stay in semi-final contention by beating New Zealand in a tense, high quality shootout at the Gabba.
England’s 20 run win improved their net run rate to .547. Australia (-.304) lag behind them with one match against Afghanistan to play.
England and Australia are likely to finish on seven points which means net run rate would split them.
This has put the pressure on Australia to not simply win but win well.
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England are not only ahead on run rate but they play Sri Lanka after Australia plays Afghanistan – who could be without the world’s No 1 T20 bowler Rashid Khan – so they will know precisely what figure they will need to make the finals.
Australia face the prospect of beating Afghanistan by 50-60 runs and hoping Sri Lanka push England all the way. Otherwise Australia will regret letting Ireland wriggle off the hook at the Gabba on Monday when they were 5-25 before surging to 137.
The vocal Brisbane crowd of 22,547 knew a Kiwi win would have been Australia’s best result and rallied behind them but England were too strong.
New Zealand (6-159) were right in the game but the match turned in the 16th over when Mark Wood conceded just three runs and took a wicket. England’s bowlers held their collective nerve most impressively.
What essentially has become a game of cricket chess took another twist with the Kiwis loss likely to mean that they will also finish equal with Australia and England if they win their last game against Ireland.
But the Kiwis have an imposing run rate which should see them through.
Afghanistan were eliminated from the tournament in the early game at the Gabba when they lost to Sri Lanka.
The Aussies may be spared facing champion leg-spinner Khan after he fell badly in the outfield in the second-last over of the game and had to be assisted from the field.
Khan was favouring his left knee as he was taken to the rooms. Team management said he will have the injury assessed.
While it was not considered overly serious he is in doubt for the final match in Adelaide, the city where he has become a Big Bash superstar with the Adelaide Strikers.
England may have lost to Ireland but they are now officially up and about – and dangerous.
The result was a reminder to Australia that in high pressure games, batting first and posting a decent total can create mountainous pressure.
Jos Buttler (73 off 47) gave Gabba fans a breathtaking exhibition of his power hitting with a series of boundaries coming off his blade as if shot from a cannon and beating boundary riders who only had to cover a handful of metres.
England have crunch and punch all the way down to Chris Woakes at No 9 and a multitude of bowling options in pace and spin.
Ben Stokes, long considered their white ball hero, has not been in great batting form and his place in the side has been questioned. But writing off a champion is a dangerous business.
Australia have players – Aaron Finch, Marcus Stoinis and Tim David – carrying hamstring injuries and the need to beat Afghanistan well has put pressure on them to field its strongest possible side and weigh up the risk of further injury.
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