Australia beat Ireland by 42 runs to boost their hopes of reaching the Men's T20 World Cup semi-finals, and also hurt England's last four chances in the process. After racking up 179-5 in Brisbane - captain Aaron Finch returning to form with 63 from 44 balls - they bowled Ireland out for 137 in 18.1 overs.The result effectively ends Ireland's challenge but is also damaging for England, who play their penultimate game of the group against New Zealand on Tuesday. Gulf News cricket experts Shyam and Satish discuss the match and the repercussions.
See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos
Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km
#t20worldcup #australia
See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos
Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km
#t20worldcup #australia
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Hello and welcome to Golf News Straight Back. I'm joined by our golf news cricket experts
00:10Sharm and Satish to discuss today's game. It was a group one affair with defending champions
00:16Australia taking on the plucky Irish. We knew beforehand that a win for either team would
00:22move them to the top two of the table while the loser would struggle potentially to reach
00:28the semifinal stage. In the end, it was Australia who won by a convincing 42 runs. It means
00:34that their World Cup is back on track after that heavy defeat that they suffered in their
00:39very first game. Sharm, what did you make of that performance today?
00:45In fact, Australia performed as expected, but I was surprised by Ireland's fight back
00:52because chasing 179, they were 25 for 5. I didn't expect them to cross 100 at that stage.
01:00In fact, that Lorcan Tucker's innings of 71 are amazing. I mean, I was really floored
01:06by the courage he showed to take on, especially people like Stark, who had taken two wickets
01:12in the same over. In fact, that particular over, he was bowling swinging all Yorkers
01:19and I found the earlier Irish batsmen finding it very difficult to handle. So from that
01:24stage to reach where they reach finally was they managed something like 137 was very remarkable.
01:31But from Australia's point of view, clinical performance, but I think they need to bowl
01:36better, definitely much more than that, because from 25 for 5, you let a side like Ireland
01:41get away. I wonder what some of the better sites like England or South Africa or India
01:49would do to them.
01:50Satish, it was a really plucky display, wasn't it, from the Ireland considering, you know,
01:55what they had, what the task was and considering the way they collapsed, you know, in the very
02:00early stages, they were, I think, 25 for 5 at one stage. But then as Sharm rightly says,
02:06Loughran came in and he really gave it a good go. And they, I mean, hadn't they, if they didn't lose
02:11maybe one or two wickets that early on, possibly we may have seen a very closer game. I think
02:16Australia were always going to win, but maybe by not such a convincing margin.
02:20I think that's where the inexperience of Ireland showed. Actually, if you look at, they probably
02:28played the same way against England when they… Sorry, India when India took Ireland. They
02:35were going after the bowling and somebody like Umraan Malik was hit very badly. That's
02:40why you don't see Umraan Malik today in the Indian side. He was thrashed so badly.
02:46So, they played this brand of cricket. But what has happened is, I think, if they had
02:52showed a little bit of patience, maybe instead of going all out against the bowlers, if they
02:57had waited for the bad balls, because there were a lot of bad balls coming in and with the
03:01field restrictions in, these guys could hit the ball quite well and they were playing quite well.
03:06But I don't know what the reason was. Maybe they didn't want the eight runs and over to be there
03:12after a 10-over margin. I don't know. Maybe they wanted to bring it down. I think they showed a lot
03:17of urgency which was not required, especially when they were timing the ball very well. Yes,
03:22you can play a very bold, positive brand of cricket. That's one way of looking at it. But
03:27positive doesn't mean recklessness. So, they were playing a bit… The early batsmen,
03:32they were playing a bit reckless. The first ball of Maxwell, they tried to hit him over the head.
03:38I think the last ball, again, it was not a close ball. I think that was the first ball of
03:42Tucker. So, not Tucker. I think it was the other batsman…
03:48First was Sterling and second was Tector.
03:52Actually, Tector, if you look at it, he played very well against India. He was one of those
03:56who did well. Actually, Tector was unlucky because it was a ranked bad ball. It's a short
04:01ball and he pulled it straight to the substitute Smith. It was not so short, Shyam. It was in
04:07between short and close. So, he played that full shot. That's why he didn't get that elevation. So,
04:12if he had flicked it, maybe it would have gone overhead. So, these are some of the elementary
04:16mistakes that come in because of the lack of experience. But it was an extremely good
04:23performance. That's one good thing with Ireland. One of them, they stand up and then they take the
04:29game deeper. But yes, if another person would have stayed, maybe the margin could have been
04:35even more smaller and they could have probably finished the quota of overs. Because still,
04:40Ireland had about another, let's say, 10 balls.
04:46Nearly two overs.
04:48Nearly two overs remaining. So, that could have been a lot better at that point. Two
04:53overs, another 20-30 runs could have brought the margin down, which could have given them confidence.
05:00Yes, guys. Let's start from the start. It was a lovely start from skipper Aaron Finch who
05:05returned to form. I would say he got 63 off 44 balls. It was a solid knock by him. It was
05:12a slow start. But he laid down the foundations for that win, didn't he?
05:21Imran or me?
05:24You go ahead, Satish.
05:25No, I think what has happened is, again, this is where Ireland's lack of experience showed in the
05:31bowling as well. When Finch was struggling, I think that's the time when Stoinis came in.
05:37He started hitting and they also bowled bad balls to Finch, which he fed on and started
05:42hitting at that point of time. But it was a welcome knock for Finch because you have to
05:53spend more time at the wicket only then you will get your confidence back. Going forward,
05:57it might help Finch, but it is not one of his best knocks. That's my view.
06:03And Shalom, were you impressed with Barry McCarthy? He took three wickets for 29 runs.
06:10He did pretty well. But on the other hand, Mark Adair, I've just seen the stats and
06:15no wickets and 59 runs. Poor guy. It wasn't his day today.
06:19No, I mean, he was taken to the cleaners, really. McCarthy impressed. And who did
06:25Josh Little? Every match I see him, Josh Little has been very, very impressed.
06:30But I think he didn't get enough movement like he got the other day against England.
06:35But he turned out to be a tricky customer, not just with the new ball. He came later in the
06:41innings as well. And if you look at that, I was looking, I actually, from the 14th onwards, I
06:47started tracking their scoring because from 17th onwards, they started to pull the match back in
06:55because at one point it looked like they might go over 200. That's when they pulled back. 17th
07:00over went for 10 runs. 18th over went for three runs. 19th over was four runs. And of course,
07:06the last one was leaked. 17th run was leaked of the last over. But those three overs in the slog
07:12actually pulled them back in. So which means Ireland really bowled well. But like I said,
07:18they could have done better. But I thought they bowled much better than I expected because
07:24Marsh threatened to take the match away. That's when McCarthy struck. Then Maxwell, of course,
07:28Maxwell played one of his mad match innings. But Stoinis also was pretty much kept in because he
07:36was not able to freeze much like he did against the Sri Lankans. Although he did well to score
07:43335. But as far as fringe is concerned, the last two matches, he's been scratchy, but he's getting
07:49runs. So he's running into some kind of form. Like Sadeesh said, it may not be his best
07:57innings. But considering where he was, he's come a long way. And I think in the coming matches,
08:03you would see a better version of him. Guys, I think we always had a feeling that Australia
08:09playing at the Gabba, we're going to win this one. You know, they've played in the last six
08:13T20 internationals. I think they've won five and only lost once. So we knew it was going to be a
08:18tall order for the Irish who gave it a good go. But just speaking a little about the about the
08:23Ireland team, you know, they've played a lot against the likes of Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
08:28They've been improving quite a lot, haven't they, overall? Sadeesh, what do you think?
08:36See, now at the end of it, they are a test-playing nation, not on the top level
08:40test-playing nation. They are a test-playing nation. So their chances are much better than
08:44some of the associate nations, which like, say, for example, Namibia or even Netherlands.
08:51These are the guys, they are not getting as many chances. But as a test-playing nation,
08:55there is a future test program. There is an international calendar where you keep playing
09:00these international matches, whether it's the T20s or POS test. So this is bound to help Ireland a
09:06great deal in the years to come. And they have the talent. They have some very good talent.
09:11And the other advantage with Ireland is they could play the counties, which will help them to
09:19get those wonderful experience, which is nothing. Because experience, in a sense,
09:23you will be in different situations. You find different ways to come out of it. You will face
09:28different bowlers, different conditions. These are all very important in the international level.
09:35And Sean, we saw Adam Zampa return to the team after his bout of COVID.
09:40We talked about this earlier. We were wondering how he's going to be, how badly he had it.
09:44I think we all knew that he wasn't suffering as badly. But what did you make of his performance
09:49yesterday? Four overs, no wickets. I think he cost 29 runs, I believe. How do you think he
09:55looked in terms of his physical abilities? And do you think he was struggling at all?
10:00No, not at all. Not at all. Actually, you wouldn't think that he is coming off COVID,
10:05because he was spot on with the ball. And if you look at that, his first dismissal was
10:10of Fionn Hand. No, so it was of Adair. In fact, that is the classic Lex Minners dismissal,
10:16stumped by the wicketkeeper, Adam Wade, who himself, I mean, Matthew Wade, who himself
10:25came off a bout of COVID. But at no point did Zampa look like he was struggling. Nor was he
10:32struggling to find the length. He was bowling the wrong ones. He was bowling his leg breaks.
10:36He was himself, actually. And Satish, Maxwell survived a couple of LBWs.
10:44And we know he can hit big once he gets going. He didn't do very well today. I think he was
10:49out for something like 13. How disappointed will he be not to be amongst the runs today?
10:56I think Maxwell's role has been stipulated in such a way, Emraan. I think what has happened is
11:04the team must be trying to rally around things, because they know that France is not able to hit.
11:10So they must have given the freedom to play, take his time, get set, so he can go at a much
11:16lower pace. Whereas Warner, Marsh, Maxwell, Stoinis, maybe, you know, like those who are
11:22coming on the other side, they must be trying their best to increase the run rate, maybe 200,
11:27300 strike rate. That's how they must be targeting. So in that sense, I think Maxwell must be trying
11:33to play his role. I don't think there is any problem in that sense, because again, this is
11:37the brand of cricket. Not just Maxwell, the entire Australian team plays. So they try to go
11:44on the offensive right from the start and they never take the foot off the gas. So that's the
11:51approach, the all-out approach they have been adopting, which will help them because they know
11:55the conditions very well. It's just a matter of time. Maybe Maxwell played only nine balls today,
12:01he has not had a great run in this World Cup so far. But these are players who don't go by form,
12:08they go by the day. So it could be his day, any one of the days where he will turn the match around
12:15on his own. So his form is not a big worry. And again, he has got two wickets with his offspin.
12:21And he has got a catch, I think two catches he got. So in that sense, as a T20 game,
12:26you have to be a bits and pieces player. 20 runs, 25 runs, quick 20-25 runs,
12:31couple of wickets, a couple of run-outs, catches. And you are the star of the day.
12:38And Shyam, in this World Cup, we have seen some tremendous fielding. Players doing really well
12:43to stop boundaries, to stop sixes, lots of good catches. I think we must talk about
12:48Barry McCarthy's acrobatics today on the boundary. When Stonis absolutely bludgeoned the ball,
12:54it was heading for a six all the way. Some people would say it was a drop catch. Of course,
12:58it wasn't. We know the difference. I mean, he'd done so well to stop it. And then so well,
13:02you know, for the presence of mind to realize he's behind the boundary, and then to toss the
13:06ball into safety. Just talk about how good that was by Barry. Actually, that was an incredible
13:13effort because when he reached the ball, he was flying backwards. That means he's totally lost
13:20control of his body. And despite that, in mid-flight, he managed to push the ball back.
13:27An absolutely acrobatic effect. But I wonder whether those kind of efforts are really called
13:33for because he could have been easily injured. He could have even had a very, what do you call,
13:38life-changing injury as well. Because when you are in the midair and trying to ball,
13:42throw the ball, all your energies and all your focus is on trying to get the ball back in,
13:48which means you're not trying to break your fall. And like I said, he fell on the cushions,
13:55which actually helped him, but it took the wind out of him. So he took a while to recover. That
14:00would have been a bad injury as well. So I wonder whether those kind of efforts are absolutely
14:06necessary. And Satish, speaking of injuries, I think we saw Captain Finch hobbling off with a
14:14bit of a hamstring pull. If he is going to be missing any of the upcoming matches, how big
14:19a blow would that be for Australia? I don't think it would have. Because the way he walked off
14:26and the way he came back to the press conference, I don't think there is anything big. Because again,
14:33he is also aging. So obviously, after batting for so long in these testing conditions,
14:40there could be a little odd pull here. It looks like a bit of a niggle. I think
14:45by the time they play the next game, he should be fit. I think that's where he is.
14:53Maybe he'll go for a scan tomorrow. But I don't see any problem. But again, having said that,
15:00Australia has got enough firepower in their bank. So in that sense, easily they will be able to fill
15:08in the hole. Because some of the guys later out of bat, I think Green had a very good series against
15:15India as an opener. But he has not played a single game so far. So in that sense,
15:23I think they have the firepower to come back and replace him. That should not be an issue.
15:31Okay, guys. So well done to Australia for getting the World Cup back on track. There's two games
15:37tomorrow.
15:39Just to add to that McCarthy's catch. I also think when players attempt these catches,
15:46they don't even realize that they are going for it. Simply because it's the adrenaline
15:51which makes you do this kind of thing. So you're completely carried away by the moment,
15:56that particular moment in the game. So you are not looking about your safety or the injury or
16:01anything at all. You just want to get the catch. You want to get the ball back in. I think
16:05there lies the danger as well as the thrill.
16:08Yeah, no, I think we all credit him for doing such a, for giving us all a fantastic moment.
16:13It'll go down as one of the best pieces of fielding. Like I've said, we've seen plenty of
16:17this. Yeah, we've seen plenty of this in a tournament. But well done to the Australians.
16:22There's two games, hopefully two games tomorrow. Depending on the weather, the forecast doesn't
16:26look too good at the moment. We could have another washout. We've got Afghanistan playing Sri Lanka
16:31and England against New Zealand. How do you think Afghanistan-Sri Lanka will go, Shyam?
16:38Afghanistan-Sri Lanka, it's a difficult predator. I would expect Sri Lanka to win,
16:44but then Afghanistan has no pushovers because they've got a three-man spin attack. But on
16:49Australia, what we have seen is spin has not been so great. But Rashid Khan, on any given wicket,
16:55he can be quite a handful. But I think Sri Lanka has it in them to tide over Afghanistan.
17:04Satish, who do you think is going to win tomorrow between those two?
17:08I think Sri Lanka will have a chance to avenge their loss to Afghanistan in Dubai,
17:14because that was the first game after a long time. So I'm sure that they will
17:20have that in their mind, because they were literally thrashed by Afghanistan in the first
17:25game, which they subsequently pulled themselves up and then went on to beat India, Pakistan,
17:30on route to the Asia Cup title. So I'm sure they will be very pumped up to play against
17:36Afghanistan tomorrow. But as you said, there is a 100% chance of rain tomorrow. That's what the
17:42weather report says. But I'm more worried about the next game, which is between England and New
17:49Zealand. That's a cracker of a game. Now, if you look at the table of Group 1, all three teams are
17:55on five points. No, rather, New Zealand is on five points, Australia is on five points, and
18:01England is on three points. So should England… England has one game in hand.
18:05Yeah, both New Zealand and England have a game in hand, which they are playing tomorrow.
18:10Should England win tomorrow, then all three teams will be on five points. That's even more
18:15interesting. And in that sense, if Sri Lanka or Afghanistan win, they are just one point behind.
18:21So it's becoming very close, as expected, the group of depth is becoming extremely close.
18:26So I hope the rain doesn't spoil this party.
18:32Just speaking of England, I mean, they'll be desperate for that win after all,
18:36losing like they did to the Irish because of the rain and then having their next game
18:40completely washed out. We're all looking forward to that Ashes clash between England and Australia.
18:45Unfortunately, it didn't happen. So it just makes their game tomorrow even more important for them
18:49to get some… well, to get the win. Sharm, do you think… Satish, is that to say on England,
18:54what do you think England will do tomorrow?
19:00I mean, it's very difficult to say simply because New Zealand… See, New Zealand are more familiar
19:04with these conditions because they… because of the transcontinental rivalry, they play…
19:09they are familiar with the conditions in Australia more than England.
19:14But having said that, to me, England is the strongest side in the competition.
19:19So I would think they would… they should be able to defeat New Zealand.
19:24All right, we'll see. Well, fingers crossed, we've got both our fingers crossed that
19:28there's no rain tomorrow and we get some action and we'll be back forward to see how tomorrow's
19:34games get on. In the meantime, head to golfnews.com for all the latest news, the reviews, the videos
19:40and everything else and also check out all our social media channels. Thanks to Sharm
19:45and thanks to Satish and we will see you again soon.