Tag:

Australia

Wow!! Glenn Maxwell has saved the day for the Aussies who not only steered them home with the win but also able to avoid India when it comes to the semi-final berth, which is expected to be the No.2 Proteas (South Africa) side next Thursday.

They might have lost the toss to Afghanistan who chose to bat first where the Aussies may not have done well as they’d like with the ball while Ibrahim Zadran has punished them downdown (129 not out from 143 balls). Afghanistan wrapped up their fine batting card of 291/5 that sets up a 292 run for the Aussies to chase later on after the innings break. Now again, likewise with the bowling, the Top 5 batters also ended up with a hit and miss so early – especially when there was no Steve Smith due to an illness (vertigo). They were almost on the brink of a shock upset at 91-7 after 18 overs until Glenn Maxwell turned things around big time where he went on to score not just the double hundred but also the win the Aussies deserve by three wickets. Now they’re still in 3rd on the ladder which confirms their semi-final spot and not having to face Team India mid-next week with one group-stage game left v Bangladesh this Saturday whereas the fourth & final spot on the table will be a two-horse race between the Blackcaps (New Zealand) & Pakistan.

Oh so close from Afghanistan who did so well both bat and ball. Hats off to Ibrahim Zadran who batted beautifully without having to get out from start to finish. Plus, we also seen a few bowlers sharing the wickets on hand as well where they almost saw light at the end of the tunnel but only for Maxwell to ruin it towards the end there. It’s been a great campaign so far with one more game to go v Proteas this Friday as they might still have an outside shot of ousting Blackcaps & Pakistan for the 4th and final semi spot but it’s unlikely. Meanwhile, the man of the hour belongs to Glenn Maxwell, who is very established in the white ball game off the willow, alongside team-mate Adam Zampa with spin. Glad he recovered well from that golf cart accident where Maxwell had to sit out the last game v England where he loves & keeps on hitting big all over the place & the Aussies need him the most between now and next week. We hope it’s up to the rest including the seamers & the Opening/Top-order batters to help them out if they bring home the Cricket World Cup trophy real bad if they can prove India wrong in the final at their home turf next Sunday in Ahmedabad.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail

The old enemy arch-rivals Australia & England are back on the field together in a while last night at the huge Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad following the recent Ashes Test series in English soil during the middle of this year (June-July).

England have asked the Aussies to bat first after the winning toss where they might have early wickets on hand, but Australia have turned themselves around though to 286 thanks to a Marnus Labuschagne 50 as well as brilliant all-round knocks from Cam Green & Marcus Stoinis. Later on, England too scored not bad this time following Jonny Bairstow’s first ball duck of their batting spell, with 50s coming from Dawid Malan & Ben Stokes including some good runs down the order by Moeen Ali. But out of the best of the all-round displays between England’s Chris Woakes & Australia’s Adam Zampa in this game, it’s Zampa who never looked out of place as the frontline spinner (3 wickets) along with his excellent 19-ball 29 cameo off the willow. 

Australia went on to not just bowl England all out for 253 thanks to a 33 run victory, but they also confirmed their elimination from the CWC with two games left where England will not defend their 2019 crown come semi-finals time after next weekend.

It’s not been the tournament England was hoping for, especially when they came in as the defending champs who play an attacking, positive style of cricket under Bazball – even though Brendon McCullum doesn’t coach their white-ball team in One Day & T20s. The bowling/on-field performance wasn’t bad to begin with where they were good at limiting to such low scores thanks to the winning toss advantage. Now their batting has improved in some way but still just couldn’t quite hold it off there when it comes to the winning runs, as no hundred being scored against at least the top teams is the one big weakness that let’s them down big time. They still got the Netherlands (Wednesday) and Pakistan (next Saturday) left to play over the next seven days before England will fly back home empty handed, but sadly it’s been largely disappointing for the majority.

Meanwhile, it’s great to see another win for the Aussies which is five games in a row now. While the first 3 batters didn’t work out where they kept on trying to hit over the ground before being caught, but great seeing Marnus pile up the runs along with both fast bowling all-rounders in Green & Stoinis. Then with the ball, It’s always the Adam Zampa show when it comes to spin who not only got away with three wickets but he also batted well a bit down the tail end at 10. He might not be the biggest hitter but at least Zampa has found the gaps really well with some simple stuff to execute through these ropes for four. Let’s hope the fast bowlers step up to support Zampa in the hope of finishing 2nd or 3rd in the ladder so they can avoid Team India with Afghanistan next on Tuesday before before finishing off the group stages v Bangladesh next Saturday.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail

It was a huge weekend of World Cup cricket from a few days ago where one match was a Trans-Tasman rivalry between Australia & New Zealand while another was the host nation (India) battling up against the under-fire defending champions (England).

Australia was sent into bat after New Zealand won the toss by electing to field first as the returning Travis Head & Dave Warner got them to another best possible start, with Head backing up his 100 on his first match back from injury. Although Australia did well to keep on scoring up to 388, they were under threat by the attacking NZ side with the bat later on thanks to some spectacular knocks from Rachin Ravindra on what has been another ton, as well as 50s coming from Daryl Mitchell & Jimmy Neesham. But in the end though, the Aussies were able to put them into bed at 383-9 thanks to a narrow five run win after 50 overs of play. Meanwhile, a similar thing happened the next day to India when they were also asked to bat first after losing the toss to England. Now India might not have scored as much as they’d like especially when Virat Kohli didn’t do so well, although Rohit Sharma is still at it in his Opening role as always. However, they defended their score of 229 where the fast bowling duo of Mohammed Shami & Jasprit Bumrah dismantled England’s batting card so quickly before the opponents were all out for 129 that secured them a 100 run win.

First of all, the Blackcaps showed some good rebound with the bat after a poor showing on the field except the last couple of overs with the ball. It’s still just not enough sadly when they fell just short towards meeting that 389 run target as there’s still time to improve their fast starts (either way or hopefully with the bat next first time) as well as these catches on the field. Aussies on the other hand have been so fortunate to escape NZ’s chase on the pitch as the overs comes down where it would be great if their quicks step up when building on these early scalps other than just the usual Adam Zampa show with spin. Other than that, the opening partnership has been strong as always regardless of the other partner with Dave Warner lately including 1-2 in the middle to lower order like Glenn Maxwell, wicket keeper Josh Inglis & skipper Pat Cummins.

Then India would’ve love to score as big as they’d like where that match could go England’s way at last who is good with their so-called Bazball tactics when it comes to playing attacking cricket. But they were fortunate to shut the opposition’s batting card down as quick as they can thanks to the excellent fast bowling duo of Mohammed Shami & Jasprit Bumrah as said above including some help in the spin department from Kuldeep Yadav. And speaking of England, their bowling wasn’t bad where the could come at last after bowling them out for 229. But unfortunately, their batters still blew it up before it was too late just short of 100 runs which was the 230 run target as they are still rock bottom in this CWC.

Australia will renew its long-standing rivalry v England this Saturday while New Zealand will next be out on the field soon tonight v South Africa followed by Team India the next day v Sri Lanka.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail

The Aussies have won the toss by choosing to bat first v the Netherlands as the openers have fired off well during the first 2-3 overs until Mitchell Marsh mistimed that pull shot where it landed straight up to the fielder. But fortunately, they have made lots of excellent runs in a total of 399/8 with Steve Smith & Marnus Labuschagne both scoring half-centuries, while Dave Warner backed up another 100 before Glenn Maxwell rounded off Australia’s 50-Over batting shift with a quickfire 40-ball century of his own. Then they went on to bowl the Netherlands all out for 90 after just over 21 overs led by spinner Adam Zampa, who once again got his 4fer for 8 runs with the ball, as the Aussies take their 3rd win of the CWC by 309 runs.

It wasn’t an easy day in the office from the Netherlands when they made some early wickets, such as that early Mitchell Marsh dismissal by Colin Ackermann off Logan Van Beek including Roelof Van Der Merwe’s stunning grab that ended Steve Smith’s shift at point – even though his first catch attempt was rejected by the 3rd umpire where it carried into the ground & not covering the whole hand that gave Warner a sigh of relief. Unfortunately, it didn’t pay off from here with a mix of expansive overs & missed catches while the Aussies including Warner went on to score more runs before they couldn’t do anything about it later on, despite a good 25 runs from opening batter Vikramjit Singh before their quick collapse for the night.

Meanwhile, glad the Aussies quickly moved on from Mitchell Marsh’s early dismissal where Smith & Warner built a great partnership together. Labuschagne also didn’t do bad after the dismissal of Smith where he’s an decent top-order batter as proven in Test Match level, as well as Maxwell, who didn’t hesitate smashing lots of boundaries, where he’s been an unreal white-ball specialist thanks to his quickfire ton. And speaking of white-ball specialists within the Aussie ODI squad, Adam Zampa did well to dismantle the other half of the Netherlands batting card – including the first two being back-to-back wickets within his 2nd over of his spell – after a few of their seamers did well to share a couple early wickets on hand.

These two teams will now play different sides next up on Saturday with the Aussies set for Trans-Tasman rivalry with the Blackcaps from NZ earlier in the day (starting at 4pm in the afternoon AEDT) while the Netherlands v Bangladesh.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail

It’s two wins from two now to wrap up the rest of this week for the Aussies that began with Sri Lanka a few days ago on Monday & now Pakistan as they sit just inside the Top 4 finals bubble also just ahead of Pakistan in the 10-team standings. They might have lost the toss when Pakistan chose to bowl/field first, but the Aussie opening pair of David Warner & Mitchell Marsh has fired off to the best possible start – having whacked lots of shots downtown before they each recorded their own 50s & then 100s over the first 30 odd overs of the afternoon. Even though Pakistan finally got the ball rolling with a few wickets on hand after the end of the huge Warner-Marsh partnership, Australia still topped up to 367-9 following the end of their 50-over batting shift. The tables have turned to the Pakistanis later on, who started not bad in the middle, where there were some good performances along the way by both openers (Abdullah Shafique & Imam Ul-Haq), as well as keeper Mohammed Rizwan & Saul Shakeel. However, they just couldn’t hold it off a bit longer through the end where being all out for 305 wasn’t enough to meet their big target of 368 as the Aussies take home the win by 62 runs.

Commiserations to Pakistan with the loss where they’ve turned things around after a difficult time by finally ending the Warner-Marsh partnership through some dropped catches that would’ve gave them a bit more chance of winning. It was good seeing Shaheen Afridi being so desperate from the start with the ball, who eventually got the job done thanks to a five wicket haul on his own. Plus, their batters wasn’t bad where the opening pair has worked well earlier on, while the top & middle order did the best they can to try & close down to Australia’s big 368 run requirement. But sadly, it just wasn’t enough when the tail end were thrown at the deep end under pressure to bring things home before Pakistan were 62 runs short in the end with five overs to spare. Meanwhile, great seeing the Aussies win again as there’s still some unfinished business going into next week. Love the swashbuckling opening batters performance from Dave Warner & Mitchell Marsh where Warner scores big quickly while Mitchell works off through the gaps & scores these safe shots down the ground. When it comes to the on-field performance, yes they were under threat at times when Pakistan never gave up as the runs were there from the opposition’s end but glad the Aussies eventually shut them down. Adam Zampa did well once again as the main spinner with his 4fer; Plus, you can’t ignore the all-round brace of Marcus Stoinis who was outstanding with both bat and ball as well.

Pakistan will face Afghanistan on Monday while Australia’s next World Cup match will be against the Netherlands on Wednesday. For now, there’s two big match-ups to watch with England v South Africa tonight (and again when it comes to the 2nd Rugby World Cup semi tomorrow AM) followed by India v New Zealand tomorrow night to round off this weekend.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail

We thought it would be a big Sri Lankan day in the middle following a great start through the first 20 odd overs with the bat, but the Aussies have turned themselves around though from 157-2 to restricting them to 209 before they were able to bring it home by recording their first win of the 2023 Cricket World Cup by 5 wickets.

Great seeing Pat Cummins pile up the two early wickets off SL’s two opening batters who gave the Aussies a hard time until he eventually found his team a huge breakthrough before the rewards were helped by their own fielders. Plus, also huge shoutout from spinner Adam Zampa with his four wicket haul (4fer for 47) by wiping off the rest as well. With the bat, I’m glad that not one but two players from WA have proved me wrong today in both opener Mitchell Marsh & keeper Josh Inglis, whom they’ve backed up their own half-centuries. Let’s hope they can keep on shining, especially when there’s still some top teams to tick off like Pakistan this Friday followed by New Zealand & then England over the next 10-14 days.

And as said, Sri Lanka has built a nice opening stand with Passum Nissanka & Kusal Perera in there. Sadly, SL just couldn’t bridge the 2nd half of their batting shift where the good runs they’ve got has saw them being locked out by the Aussies to 209. Speaking of starts, they too were not bad with the ball when it comes to these early wickets. But again, it would’ve been better if they didn’t get out early too much & SL follow up their good opening stand by keep on scoring more runs along with another good batting stand (either one – top or middle order) that would’ve seen them safeguard their lead between the 300-350 run mark. The search is still on to try & register their first World Cup win as SL’s next game is against the Netherlands this Saturday.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail

After two games so far, Australia has still yet to record a win in the 2023 Cricket World Cup following back-to-back losses v India and now South Africa. Yes, they won the toss by choosing to field/bowl first from skipper Pat Cummins. However, their fielding displays has been extremely poor when a few catching opportunities were supported to be taken, but then dropped it that should’ve held back South Africa’s batting card. Instead, Quentin De Kock has scored his 100 while Opening partner Temba Bavuma didn’t do bad before Aiden Markram, Marco Jansen & David Miller finished off the team’s innings nicely past the 300 mark (311-7).

Then the tables turn on our batsmen to try & respond to that big total of 312 being set by South Africa. Unfortunately, SA has proved to them that catches win matches – the line Pommie Mbangwa always says on commentary – including some great calls they’ve made too when appealing a review. The Aussies were way out of hand likewise with the bat that saw them being bowled all out for 177 before SA take home the win by 134 runs. So far, so good from the Proteas who made an explosive batting performance led by Quinton De Kock, while they were excellent not just with the ball but also on the field that led to some good catches & appeals along the way. Let’s hope SA can stay on the up for the rest of this tournament in the hope of winning a trophy for the first time & not choke it like they’ve done a few times in the past.

And where do we go from here for the Aussies? First of all, gotta feel sorry for the bowlers who created some great chances for the fielders to finish off the good work for them. But most of the executions from these fielders just wasn’t there sadly where some couldn’t see where the ball is landing while another could’ve easily been a wicket or two but then dropped the ball which was really frustrating to watch. Plus, Alex Carey should be opening with Dave Warner next game v Sri Lanka on Monday, as don’t think Mitchell Marsh can stay on like this who is an all-rounder that opened the bat recently. M. Marsh would be better back at five if he’s not axed for their next game v Sri Lanka on Monday & nothing against Josh Inglis behind the gloves last night, but sadly he didn’t do any good & will have to hand the WK gloves back to Carey in a few days time.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail

We’ve reached the first week of six in this year’s Cricket World Cup over in India with some exciting match-ups to kick things off, such as the 2019 Final rematch opener between England v New Zealand. England didn’t do so bad for a start thanks to Joe Root (77) earlier on of 282-9 even though they couldn’t reach 300, but that big batting partnership of Opener Devon Conway (152) & No.3 Rachin Ravindra (123) has helped NZ wow the defending champions by a nine wicket win – having each recorded their own 100s.

Sounds like NZ’s attacking approach is the original birth place of Bazball where it has been adopted to England since last year by their Test coach Brendon McCullum. Although it’s safe to say that he’s not their white-ball coach (Matthew Mott is who formerly coached the Australian women’s side), despite having a similar kind of dedicated coaching staff who shares the same philosophy as him. NZ went on to beat the Netherlands two days ago by 99 runs two days ago (Monday) while England has also recorded their first win of the 2023 CWC v Bangladesh yesterday by 137 runs.

Then the tables turn on our Aussies who unfortunately didn’t get the win they wanted from Sunday v the host nation, India. It looked so promising from the start when you got Dave Warner & Steve Smith smashing 30/40s, but then the rest didn’t do so well where they ended up just above 200 before India were too good to bring it home with the winning runs by six wickets.

Their next game is tomorrow night AEDT v South Africa who got their first win from Saturday v Sri Lanka. Now the Proteas would want to treat carefully with water later on who is well known for being chokers like India – but so far, so good. 

SA recently beat the Aussies at home out of a five-match ODI series last month (3-2) & that it’s something the Aussies needs to do in order to turn things around such as their batting card on such hot conditions over there. There is still some time left to play for where Australia will look to win some matches against 2-3 top teams & then hopefully put themselves into the Top 4 finals, with Sri Lanka coming after this next game on Monday.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail

Yes, today’s Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix race was crazy earlier on where we saw a few cars make contact into each other that led to some DNFs along the way. But it was a great day though with Max Verstappen being unstoppable in the Red Bull-RBPT Honda before he was joined by both McLarens to round out the Top 3 as Lando Norris finished 2nd followed our Aussie own Oscar Piastri, who scored his first podium finish in 3rd. We wished Oscar would’ve chased down Max from 2nd, but then he was blocked by the race winner immediately after the race start where Lando took a great view on the outside from 3rd to 2nd before he couldn’t get on hold onto Max as the race progresses. There will always be another Oscar moment after his mother couldn’t be there to watch her son race in-person today, but it looks like we will see him win races & hopefully a World Championship someday thanks to his latest four-year contract extension a few days ago with McLaren.

And shoutout to New Zealand’s Liam Lawson down in 11th for the Alpha Tauri-RBPT Honda outfit. He had a great battle with his team-mate Yuki Tsunoda from the start, although he was losing some track position for a while. But he had a great last half run though nonetheless, having made up some lost time where he got around Yuki before being way ahead of him en route towards another good result – despite being a lap down in his 4th race. Again, this is one driver who deserves a full-time seat. But there’s nothing we can do about it unless Williams can loan him out (which is unlikely) following the news yesterday that Alpha Tauri will retain both Yuki and the injured Daniel Ricciardo next season. Next stop, Lusail International Circuit in Race 17/23 this season under the lights for Qatar Grand Prix on Sunday 8th October/Monday 9th October at 4am AEDT here.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail

Lots to look back on Day 2 of the 2nd Test yesterday starting off with Australia’s continuous run chase from 300-3, where Marnus Labuschagne & Travis Head continued to shine for most of the 1st session after an excellent opening day shift that saw them hang in there & pile up runs for longer periods of time.

But their time in the middle has eventually came to an end in between towards the afternoon break & the early stages of the middle session; one was Marnus being caught behind by Joshua Da Silva off Devon Thomas not long before lunch on 163, and another was where Head couldn’t get back home on time as the non-striker that saw him being ran out by Da Silva on 175.

Then WI profited a few quick wickets through the tail order. Although keeper Alex Carey was the notable exception that kept Australia on the up with runs on the board; he too scored a quickfire 54-ball 41 before fill-in Captain Steve Smith declared at 511-7 for Australia. We would’ve loved to see him cap off with a Test 50 but played really well nonetheless.

And we fast forward to the 2nd innings play where Michael Neser fired off with back-to-back early wickets for the Aussies before that momentum helped them collect another two wickets by the end of Day 2, as WI will resume on 102-4 & 409 run trail going into Day 3 later this afternoon – with Tagenarine Chanderpaul on 47* & Anderson Phillip on 1*.

Hats off to Neser when he bowled a straight line & length that left Kraigg Braithwaite (19) & Sharmahr Brooks (8) straight back upstarts where their bats were knicked straight to Carey’s gloves. Same goes to Nathan Lyon with his caught & ball effort on Jermaine Blackwood (3), and nice to see Green get his wicket with a good bounce targeting off stump that saw Thomas (19) chopped on through the gate.

They’ve got this now to finish off the other WI batting card ASAP, while WI will want Tagenarine to hang in there with some back up at the other end. Otherwise, they will look for their tail enders again to try & fire it up downtown – If that’s the only way to turn themselves around like last week.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail