Cricket
3 months ago
Embarrassing Aussie performance worthy of a kick up the backside
By Gerard Whateley
This morning we salute the Afghanistan cricket team. They have been the best story in international cricket for a couple of World Cups now.
The rise of this team against the backdrop of their country is among the best stories in sport this century.
Yesterday added to the catalogue of defining victories when beating Australia for the first time. It was splendid and comprehensive.
What a triumph for Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi – cricketers we know so well here.
It was anchored by the openers who combined for a 118-run stand and delivered by the bowling of Gulbadin Naib and Naveen-Ul-Haq.
We salute Afghanistan’s performance, and we deplore Australia for this was a dreadful effort.
When you do that much wrong you deserve the beating you get. And Australia did everything wrong. You didn’t need hindsight either.
The decision to drop Mitch Starc was a stunner. As if the selectors had missed the climax of the IPL when Starc was the defining figure.
Picking Ashton Agar was fine… Starc should’ve played ahead of Hazlewood.
The analytics at the ground said bat first. The brains trust has been so good adhering to analytics rather than convention.
They have proved the outside observers wrong time and again. They departed from their own strategy yesterday.
It was the worst fielding performance I’ve seen from Australian team since the 80s. Complete lack of concentration and application.
A handful of dropped catches, terrible misfields, missed run outs and stumpings.
It was amateurish… and the polar opposite to how Australia fielded at the 50-over World Cup last year.
It’s worth remembering they dropped five catches against Scotland last weekend also.
To save both blushes and their tournament Australia needed its batting to rescue them. It didn’t.
Seven wickets were lost to pace bowling. The top order ripped out without landing a blow.
Only Glenn Maxwell got going – his 59 was brilliant.
But it was his job to bat Australia to victory… and he got out when he was most needed.
Do things feel a bit off in this campaign? Australia fooled around ahead of the game against Scotland – and then tried to pretend it didn’t.
Dave Warner has used this tournament so far as an indulgence tour. He used runs against Oman to tell everyone they were wrong questioning his lack of runs across a couple of years of decline.
Then revisited the sandpaper incident last week with a message that he’d taken the full wrath for his teammates.
How do you think this played out inside the team environment? Why would be brandishing sandpaper again now? He’d want to play a game-defining knock tonight.
And it was just embarrassing to watch Marcus Stoinis issue a sendoff when Australia finally took its first wicket in the 16th over.
For heaven’s sake Afghanistan had put on 118 for the opening wicket.
What sheer arrogance from Stoinis – the sort of unattractive stuff I though this team had left in the past.
Australia likes a settled, positive environment around its team, but every now and then a good kick up the backside is required.
I’d hope those in charge read the riot act last night because if they can’t beat India tonight it’s an entirely unsatisfactory ending.
