Australia still managed to start their world cup campaign with style.
Twatto was a little star, as ever, and Missing Link Warner got a good solid start that ended too soon; Pup did us all a favour by getting out quickly - why on earth he thought he should bat at number 3 is a mystery; Dussey took me by surprise with his 53 and so did Bloody Vic Cam White - I thought he'd do better.
A minor collapse toward the end of our innings was a bit scary and then there was that final over by Aamer, but 191 was always going to be pretty damn defendable.
Despite that total, I still had my customary little panic - especially when Afridi and Misbah-ul-Haq started to look a little comfy out there. The wickets kept coming, though - largely due to Australia's fielding - and the required run rate kept on climbing. In the end it was a kick arse victory for us and I imagine we're all feeling confident of a place in round 2 about now.
9 thoughts on this post:
Against the quick bowlers Pakistan's top order struggled.
Australia's pace battery would be too much for Bangladesh as well.
And everybody thought Aus had made a mistake by going with their mostly pace attack!
Not against Pakistan and Bangladesh. The test may come if they play at Trinidad or Guyana against teams who play quick bowling better
So now, if I have got this worked out right, if Bangladesh were to beat Australia by a couple of runs (might happen) it should be Bangladesh and Australia who go through to the super eights because Australia beat Pakistan by more than Pakistan beat Bangladesh ... is that right?
So, Purna, your cheque can be made out to Mr M.Clarke ...
Purna, I didn't think that we had made a mistake by backing the pace bowlers. Our pace bowlers will have to be our main weapon regardless of the size of the pitch and the wicket, our spin bowlers look so lame in comparison and Hauritz has 'warmed up' in the most mediocre fashion imaginable.
That last over by Aamer was a beauty. I might not have been laughing so much if we needed a lot more runs though.
Sid, does Clarke justify his place in the team? I know this is just one performance, but he's hardly an explosive batsman, is he? What's his strike rate in T20s? Lou, spot on about the attack, with apologies to Sid about her Lord.
Adrian, he did make several mistakes and not just sending himself in at number 3 when he should clearly be down and 5 or 6. Also, he bowled an over for no apparent reason - he has a world class bowling attack at his fingertips and he chooses to bowl himself. It wasn't the worst over ever but it wasn't great either. What was that all about?
And how about this: Afridi is getting all settled, we know that if anyone can keep Pakistan in this game it's Afridi and what's Clarke's game plan? Send in a spinner to bowl at the guy that everyone knows is a class player of spin. Afridi spreads little leggies like Smith on his toast for breakfast every morning. What was Clarke thinking? Smith got smashed for 17 that over, which apart from making me bite my fingernails (and have bad memories of Hauritz bowling to Gayle, 2009) must also have crushed Smith's confidence. 20 year old, first major international tournament and he gets sent in to do that - great captaincy Mr Clarke.
BUT it is only the first match and despite everything, we did win it and will most likely go through to round 2. I think we need to respect that Clarke is our captain and give him more time, but if he continues to make silly mistakes and we exit the competition too soon, Pup's position should come under scrutiny.
And on the Hauritz thing, Lou is absolutely right. Hauritz has been ordinary in the warm ups and I don't expect to see much of him until later in the tournament, if we get that far.
I think Clarke bowled himself because he batted so poorly. Not that I think he did, he batted perfectly. It's him hanging around and not scoring much that winds me up, him getting out off 3 balls without scoring much is a big pluseroony.
It was the best thing he did all match ... if he can bowl lower down, and make a strong partnership with Mussey for example, he would much more use to us as a captain.
I got the impression he was trying to prove himself by bowling that over as well, you know. Glad it wasn't just me.
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