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Geoff Lemon’s match report
Summary
Jonathan Howcroft What an interesting evening. The prelude was full of permutations and calculations, but when David Warner started at top speed, everything seemed clear. But sport endlessly fascinates us for its capacity to surprise, and as Australia dropped points at regular intervals and Afghanistan’s bowlers bowled perfect yorkers and unpicked slower balls, the narrative of the night ran wild. Glenn Maxwell ensured Australia retained the upper hand at the break, but the resounding triumph they needed to put pressure on England looked out of reach. Victory of any kind looked in danger with Afghanistan at 99-2, but this Maxwell man wasn’t done and his direct hit from long-on changed the night in an instant. Afghanistan went from trading blows with the champions to collapsing on the ropes, reaching 103-6 in no time. But still the night was not over. Not only did Australia fail to sweep the tail and raise clean sheets, they found Rashid Khan in a lousy mood and the leg-spinner unleashed all sorts of improbable strokes to knock Afghanistan within two balls of victory. Now it’s England and Sri Lanka in Sydney to determine if any of that mattered. Thanks for joining me tonight. Stay tuned for much more from this exciting contest. Adam Zampa had a chat with Australian TV. We haven’t played our best cricket and we deserve to be where we are at the moment. We probably expected net interest to come into play if we got a score of 200+. Wadey said before we get there let’s go for the win and if we hit a few overs we can think of a clean run rate. We were a bit surprised about the conditions. The wicket was slow in the day, then when the lights came on and the dew fell it got better. We didn’t play our best cricket. He missed a few chances with the bat to get a big score. I know there was a period there where it looked like they were on top, we pulled it back and Rash almost took them home. A good game of cricket. Here’s how the Group 1 table looks with one game to go. This match is England vs Sri Lanka at 19:00 local time in Sydney. England fans will be pleased to know that the forecast is good.
Glenn Maxwell Player of the match
The most important batsman on the night and the most defining figure on the field with his brilliant run out. Afghanistan depart the T20 World Cup the only nation not to win a match in the Super 12s, but proved their worth in world cricket tonight with an entertaining display full of guts. Had either or both of Gurbaz and Gulbadin gone for a big score, they might have crossed the line. But if that was the case, perhaps Rashid’s wild 48 from 23 wouldn’t happen? What does this all mean for Team 1?
New Zealand advanced to the semi-finals Sri Lanka, Ireland and Afghanistan are eliminated England will join New Zealand in the semi-finals if they beat Sri Lanka in Sydney tomorrow. If they fail, Australia advance We can all forget about net run rate for a while
Australia prevails, simply, and despite the fact that another underdog shows that they are still in contention for the semi-finals.
Australia win by 4 runs
20th over: Afghanistan 164-7 (Rashid 48, Mujeeb 0) Rashid finishes with a flourish, pulls for four with one bounce. Such a brave attempt at death. Updated at 11.37 GMT Over 19.5: Rashid goes long but can only manage an edge that lands safely. They win two. 9 discount required. 19.4 overs: SIX! Stoinis falls short and Rashid drops the ball into the cheap seats. 11 discount two required. 19.3 overs: Decent connection, but continuous. Rashid dismisses the single. 19.2 over Stoinis leaks into Rashid’s pads and the batsman flicks the ball over short fine leg for four! 17 from four. 19.1 over: Rashid’s bit swings doesn’t connect, denying the single to preserve the strike.
WIRELESS! Darwish run out (Stoinis) 15 (Afghanistan 148-7)
19.0 over: Stoinis starts with a side leg. Rashid goes through to pinch hit, Wade throws, misses, Stoinis collects and bowls the non-striker’s end. 19th over: Afghanistan 147-6 (Darwish 15, Rashid 32) Wade tosses the ball to Hazlewood, and he starts with a dot that flirts with a wide outside off-stump, then a perfect straight yorker. Another wide dot has Rashid off his feet but then connects! It’s not pretty, but it’s a six off Rashid nonetheless. Can momentum be built? No; swing and miss. But Rashid doesn’t take a step back and hits four straight backs over the bowler’s head to close the over. 22 required from the final over. Updated at 11.29 GMT 18th over: Afghanistan 136-6 (Darwish 14, Rashid 24) More streaky swiping from Afghanistan’s lower order as the energy drains from the match. Until Rashid Khan goes SIX SIX that is. The first is a wrist flick that sends Richardson over square leg, then he leans back and hits a big leg. 33 off 12. They can’t, can they? 17th over: Afghanistan 120-6 (Darwish 12, Rashid 8) Afghanistan keep rolling but only one delivery from Cummins’ over reaches the boundary. It’s easy to say after the tournament, of course, but Australia can look back tonight with regret: they probably could have put their batting & bowling forward more than they did in a bid to win the game by a bigger margin . #T20 World Cup — Freddie Wilde (@fwildecricket) November 4, 2022 16th over: Afghanistan 112-6 (Darwish 5, Rashid 7) Rashid tried to smash what was sent towards the James Webb telescope, but most of his strokes resulted only in wrong ends. Richardson with stock on top. Australia marching towards victory. And that’s it. With Afghanistan all out for 108, Australia remain behind England in net run rate. Their only avenue for a semi-final is for Sri Lanka to win tomorrow. #T20WC — Geoff Lemon Sport (@GeoffLemonSport) November 4, 2022 Updated at 11.17 GMT 15th over: Afghanistan 106-6 (Darwish 3, Rashid 3) From 99-2 and in the mix for a mighty turnaround to 106-6. Cricket, eh?
WIRELESS! Nabi c Warner b Hazlewood 1 (Afghanistan 103-6)
Hazlewood returns as Australia look to polish things up quick and smart, and he strikes with his third delivery! That said, Nabby did all the hard work, shoveling a nasty bunt straight at Warner coming in over the maternity fence. This is a miserable collapse. 14th over: Afghanistan 101-5 (Nabi 0, Darwish 2) Well, this was the over that decided the outcome of this match. Three slots and Afghanistan has exploded in spectacular fashion. Nice Adam Zampa. Well played Glenn Maxwell.
WIRELESS! Najib c Maxwell b Zampa 0 (Afghanistan 99-5)
Oh Afghanistan, what are you doing!!?? Najib tries to send his second strike to long-on and lands a sitter on Maxwell’s neck.
WIRELESS! Ibrahim c Marsh b Zampa 0 (Afghanistan 99-4)
Two in two for Australia! Both the set batsmen were gone in the blink of an eye. Ibrahim tried to sweep but was able to easily catch Marsh on 45.
WIRELESS! Gulbadin run out (Maxwell) 39 (Afghanistan 99-3)
MAXWELLBALL! Enjoy for Australia. Disaster for Afghanistan. Ibrahim drove Zaba to long off and after completing an easy single, Gulbandin pushed for two but Maxwell’s powerful arm bowled the stumps near the rope. 13th over: Afghanistan 98-2 (Ibrahim 25, Gulbadin 39) Wade turns to Cummins to make something happen and almost does – twice – but chances at long-on and point both reach half-time. However, Cummins’ pace and control exposes Ibrahim’s limitations with the Afghanistan No.3 unable to get much bat on anything sent his way, full or short. Ibrahim needs to focus on swinging strikes and not sticking the best Test bowler in the game. 12th over: Afghanistan 96-2 (Ibrahim 24, Gulbadin 38) Richardson replaces Green but Gulbadin sends him tripping, picking up a length delivery and carting it just short of the dive. He then stands tall and drives through the gap at third for four. Now Ibrahim wants a piece of the action, stepping on the leg and hitting Richardson inside-out accurately over extra cover for four. Excellent from Afghanistan to spark this chase. We can definitely put calculators to bed now. Pure run rate is no longer on the table. 11th over: Afghanistan 79-2 (Ibrahim 19, Gulbadin 27) Zampa continues after drinks. Afghanistan pick up seven easy runs with unlucky hitting and hard running. Halfway through, things aren’t going as well as Australia would have hoped. The huge win to put pressure on England tomorrow now looks a long way off, and Afghanistan still have a shout tonight. 10th over: Afghanistan 72-2 (Ibrahim 15, Gulbadin 24) Green’s extra bounce gives a ball-shaped mark on Gulbadin’s inner thigh. Pinched, the batsman clears his front leg and slaps a tracer ball for a six over the cow corner. Now it’s Ibrahim’s turn to make offense the better form of defence, stepping on the leg and getting a fine edge on a nasty harvest that just eludes Zaba at third. 9th over: Afghanistan 60-2 (Ibrahim 10, Gulbadin 17) Ibrahim moves again with an inside edge for three from Zaba, a stroke that brings Gulbadin on strike and allows him to reach out and smoke a powerful cover drive for four. 8th over: Afghanistan 51-2 (Ibrahim 7, Gulbadin 11) Time for a fifth right-armer from Australia over the pacer in the form of Cameron Green, and the young all-rounder starts well, conceding just one run. Gulbandin is responsible for this single, but after chipping away at a straight delivery, Ibrahim struggles against the tall bowler’s extra bounce. Ibrahim has stopped seven of 15. 7th over: Afghanistan 50-2 (Ibraim 7, Gulbadin 10) Wade turns to Adam Zaba’s spin for a couple of wickets and the leggie hits his marks from the wicket, dropping four dots in a tight opening.
