Where there’s a will there’s a Wade

Australia overcame bad luck, bad judgment and bad press to beat Pakistan and move into Monday morning’s T20 World Cup final against New Zealand.

Matthew Wade plays a shot during his match-winning knock. Picture: AFP.

You don’t win a Twenty20 World Cup semi-final when you drop Mohammed Rizwan on zip and he goes on to make 67. You know it is just not your game when Steve Smith drops a simple outfield catch. It’s just one of those nights when Josh Hazlewood leaks 49 runs in one of his worst ever T20 outings.

Frankly you may as well give up and go home when David Warner tucks the bat under his arm and accept the umpire’s decision only to find you didn’t get an edge.

What was he thinking? Adam Gilchrist was venerated for walking in a World Cup, Warner would be excoriated for accepting the umpire’s decision had the game gone to Pakistan.

Australia overcame bad luck, bad judgment and bad press to beat Pakistan and move into Monday morning’s T20 World Cup final against New Zealand.

All of this after a previously undefeated Pakistan team, rated by Shane Watson as the best he has ever seen at that level, posts its highest score of the tournament batting first.

Australia didn’t take a wicket in the powerplay and didn’t take their second until the score was 143 with three overs remaining.

Younger men might have lost their heads, but an underrated group held their nerve when their mettle was tested.

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This was a side and a coach written off before a ball was bowled.

Justin Langer’s tactics were old-school Big Bash, the critics said. His players were, well, just old school and in that they are further proof of Dan Christian’s T20 adage that “old blokes win stuff”.

Warner, who had his cricket obituary written midway through the tournament, is 35. Aaron Finch, who was also preparing for the final sacrament, is 34. Wade and Glenn Maxwell 33. Marcus Stoinis 32 and Steve Smith 32.

Mitch Marsh and Josh Hazlewood 30.

Only Adam Zampa, 29, and Pat Cummins, 28 are under 30.

In any other time you’d expect most not to make it to the next tournament but as it is only a year away, the old Australian men will all get at least one more crack before trading batting for incontinence pads.

The Weekend Australian’s resident statistician, Steve Samuelson, points out that Cummins was the youngest player in the side when he made his T20 debut 10 years ago for Australia – just as he was in this game.

T20 was the game made for kids originally, but these days their parents are hogging the playground. Chris Gayle is only just looking to get off the merry-go-round now he has turned 42 – Shoaib Malik is turning 40.

Man of the match, Wade, held his nerve when the Australians were five down and chasing 80 off 46 balls. There was no batting left in the sheds, it was up to him and Stoinis to get the job done in a high-pressure situation. A man who has been dropped from every format back in 2017, a cricketer selectors and commentators have struggled to embrace, came to the crease having only been at the wicket twice in the tournament.

Wade steadied for the first 10 balls, pressed for a few more and then took down the very dangerous Shaheen Shah Afridi with a hat-trick of sixes. The first was an audacious ramp the kids love so much. It’s a fair shot for an old man when the bowler is coming at you around 150km/h. The Tasmanian knew the bowler would try and change up for the next delivery and smashed him over mid-wicket. That’s experience for you. Shaheen then went the yorker again, Wade threw the kid over his shoulder for another six. And that was that.

“Experience is key in these games,” Wade said. “Even though we lost a few early wickets and things weren’t really going our way early, there was no real panic in the dressing room.

“We all thought it was going to be a young man’s game when T20s first came in.

“But certainly the more experienced players tend to have a little bit more success.”

Wade believed it could have been his last game but plenty of commentators argued that should have come earlier.

Shane Warne wanted Josh Inglis in there, even Ricky Ponting admitted before the tournament that the keeper was the biggest concern.

“The keeper-batsman is probably the slot they’d be losing the most sleep over right now,” Ponting said on the eve of the tournament.

“They’ve still got some questions to answer as far as what their overall squad looks like and I think the biggest one is ‘who is going to be standing behind the stumps with the gloves on?’,” added Ponting. “Josh Inglis’ name could be thrown into the ring as well – I really liked what I saw from him batting in the middle order in last summer’s BBL.

“He plays spin really well and you think about where the World Cup is going to be (in India or the UAE), he could be a name that could come up (for selection).”

Wade has found that place, like his Tasmanian neighbour Tim Paine, where he takes every game as a bonus, he has kept well and contributed when asked.

Given all that, he admitted to being a little nervous knowing that a loss would likely have been his last game for Australia in this format – if not all of them.

“I was a bit nervous coming into the game knowing potentially it could be my last opportunity to represent Australia,” Wade said.

“If this is it, this is it. It’s not really on the line for me – it’s going to be all over.

“I feel like this game was maybe harder nerve-wise than what the final will be because now we’re in it we’ve got nothing to lose.

“That might be my last game too and I’m comfortable if that is it.”