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Pakistan bowlers boss Netherlands to keep their hopes alive
Pakistan’s fast bowlers proved too hot for Netherlands on a bouncy surface in Perth, giving them a comfortable six-wicket win and their first points of the T20 World Cup. Overwhelmed by the Pakistan bowling attack, Netherlands could post only 91 for 9 after choosing to bat and eventually lost their third game in a row in the Super 12s.
Netherlands’ batters were tested by short balls, with Bas de Leede copping a bouncer on the grille which forced him to retire hurt. Shaheen Shah Afridi took 1 for 19, Haris Rauf cranked his pace up to finish with 1 for 10, Naseem Shah conceded only 11 runs in four overs while Mohammad Wasim impressed with his back-to-back wicket-taking yorkers. Shadab Khan complemented the seamers, his wristspin accounting for three wickets.
The sub-100 chase was expectedly comfortable for Pakistan, with two key cogs to their batting line-up getting among the runs. After Babar Azam fell cheaply, Mohammad Rizwan (49) and No. 3 Fakhar Zaman (20) – the latter returning to the XI after a knee injury kept him away for seven weeks – put together a 37-run stand. Pakistan closed out the chase with 37 balls to spare, which was also their very first T20I win on Australian soil.
The win for Pakistan, their first after two last-ball losses to start the World Cup, keeps them in contention for semi-final spot, but fate is no longer in their hands. Not only do they need to win their last two games – against Bangladesh and South Africa – but also need results from other Group 2 games going their way.
A new-ball test of fire
The Pakistan quicks stepped up with the new ball for the third game in a row, with Afridi earning his first new-ball wicket in the competition too. He went short to opener Stephan Myburgh, drawing a top-edged pull from the left-hand batter. The extra bounce induced that error, and the other pace bowlers caught on to that quickly.
The seamers got the ball to rise awkwardly while operating at more than 140kph, and the No. 3 de Leede faced the brunt of it when a Rauf short ball left him with a bleeding cut under his right eye. De Leede was later replaced by concussion substitute Logan van Beek.
Shadab owns the middle overs
Pakistan conceded only two boundaries in the powerplay, allowing Netherlands to score only 19 runs in the first six overs. Shadab was introduced by Babar as soon as the field restrictions were lifted.Shadab had finished his spell against Zimbabwe with two wickets off his last two balls and against Netherlands, he struck off his first ball, getting No. 4 Tom Cooper to pull a loose half-tracker to deep midwicket
While that was a lucky break, the next dismissal wasn’t with Shadab’s googly turning in sharply and pinning opener Max O’Dowd in front of middle and leg stumps. That wicket had Netherlands reeling at 34 for 3 after ten overs.
The captain Scott Edwards then looked to build a partnership with Colin Ackermann, but the boundaries were hard to come by, as they relied more on the singles and twos. However, the 35-run fourth-wicket partnership off 37 balls was ended by Shadab when Ackermann missed the reverse lap and was hit in front of off stump. He finished with 3 for 22.
The quicks wrap it up
With the final quarter of the innings left, Edwards tried to play some innovative shots, but his scoop off Naseem went to deep fine leg. Roelof van der Merwe was dismissed next, backing away to Rauf before having his stumps flattened.
With Netherlands at 74 for 6 after 17 overs, chances of a big finish appeared slim. The seamers conceded only 17 in the last 18 balls, with Wasim causing most of the damage with his back-to-back yorkers that shattered the stumps of Tim Pringle and Fred Klaassen. Naseem bowled a tight 20th over to finish with an economy of 2.75 in four overs and set Pakistan a target of 92. (cricinfo)
The first truly heavyweight clash of this expanded T20 World Cup format comes freighted with both history and subplots. A rematch of the 2010 World T20 final at Kensington Oval, the match pits Jos Buttler’s defending champions – who are aiming to become the first team to retain the trophy – against the Australian winning machine, victors at the 2021 edition and current world title-holders in Test and ODI cricket. And that’s before you throw in the Ashes for afters.
Already there is added pressure on England, after the rain in Bridgetown led to a share of the points in their opener against Scotland (and that having conceded 90 runs from 10 overs without taking a wicket in a tepid bowling display). Lose to their oldest rivals and it will leave their Super 8 prospects open to being waylaid by the perils of net run-rate calculations, or worse.
The Scotland match was the third abandonment in five suffered by England, after a rain-affected home series against Pakistan, which has clearly hampered their readiness for this campaign after almost six months without playing T20 together. It does not take much for a side to click in this format – and England looked in decent shape when they did get on the field against Pakistan – but Buttler will be anxious for things to go their way on Saturday, if only to avoid further questions referencing the team’s disastrous ODI World Cup defence last year.
Australia, under the laidback leadership of Mitchell Marsh would love nothing more than to add to the English sense of jeopardy – having helped bundle them out of the tournament in India on the way to taking the crown. Their head to head record is less impressive in T20 however, with England having won six of the last seven completed encounters, as well as that 2010 final.
Despite a wobble with the bat, Australia avoided mishap against Oman earlier in the week, the experience of David Warner and Marcus Stoinis shining through in difficult batting conditions. Surfaces in the Caribbean – not to mention those games staged in the USA – have already had teams scratching their heads; rather than the “slug-fest” England had prepared for, following a high-scoring tour of the Caribbean in December, it looks as if boxing smart may be the way to go.
Speaking of Warner, this could be the last time he faces up against England in national colours – and another match-winning contribution would likely reduce the chances of them meeting again in the knockouts. On the other side of the card is Jofra Archer, fresh from an emotional maiden outing at Kensington Oval and ready to take on Australia for the first time in any format since 2020. Can Mark Wood fire up England’s campaign, as he did during last summer’s Ashes? Will Pat Cummins be back to harass the old enemy once again? Seconds out, it’s almost time to rumble.
Cummins is set to return after being rested for the Oman game, which saw Mitchell Starc leave the field with cramp. Starc is understood to be fine and could keep his place – which would likely see Nathan Ellis miss out. Marsh is still not fit to bowl, with Australia likely to continue with the allrounder combination of Stoinis and Maxwell to give them cover.
Australia (probable XI): David Warner, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh (capt), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Josh Inglis (wk), Tim David, Pat Cummins, Nathan Ellis/Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
The one change England may consider is Reece Topley coming in for Wood, with the expectation that there will be some rotation among the seamers through the course of the tournament.
England (probable XI): Phil Salt, Jos Buttler (capt & wk), Will Jacks, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley/Mark Wood
[Cricinfo]
Once is coincidence, twice is a clue, and three times is proof.
To paraphrase Agatha Christie, that is the narrative around South Africa’s meeting with Netherlands at this T20 World Cup.
The Dutch beat South Africa at the 2022 tournament and ended their semi-final hopes in a match where South Africa appeared to be sleep walking, and then beat them again at the 2023 ODI World Cup, where they exposed South Africa’s vulnerability in the chase. If they to do the treble, not only will Netherlands take the lead in Group D, but they will offer conclusive evidence of the threat they pose to Full Members, especially South Africa.
Of course, it will take some doing after South Africa’s opening performance against Sri Lanka, where they reduced their opposition to their lowest T20I total and chased it down in fairly straightforward fashion thanks to the most stable middle-order of their white-ball era. In Aiden Markram, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller, South Africa have bankers and big-hitters and, for this match, they also have the advantage of experience. They’ve already played at Eisenhower Park, and have first-hand knowledge that run-scoring doesn’t come easily;Klassen said they are prepared to use their “cricket brains” and play “smarter cricket”.
But the conditions could be good news for Netherlands, who are not naturally a line-up of big hitters and build their innings on a foundation of turning ones into twos. In other words, they tend to take a slightly more conservative approach to batting, which may work well here, but they’ll be wary of the uneven bounce of the surface and will have to come up with plans to counterattack especially against South Africa’s seamers. Their own bowlers were exemplary in Dallas and will look to build on that performance against a line-up that will likely be more proactive than Nepal’s, but who they have managed to keep quiet not once, but twice in the past. Third time’s the charm, they say.
Anrich Nortje’s stunning return to form against Sri Lanka means South Africa may not have to tinker with the bowling combination, and Gerald Coetzee and Tabraiz Shamsi may have to wait their turns to get a game. The batting line-up should be unchanged, with no space for Ryan Rickelton yet.
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markam, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Ottneil Baartman, Anrich Nortje
Conditions in New York may tempt Netherlands to include an extra seamer and they have Kyle Klein in their squad. But it could come at the expense of a shortened batting line-up and they may not want to risk that.
Netherlands: Michael Levitt, Max O’Dowd, Vikramjit Singh, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Scott Edwards (capt, wk), Bas de Leede, Teja Nidamanuru, Logan van Beek, Tim Pringle, Paul van Meekeren, Vivian Kingma
[Cricinfo]
Nuwan Thushara’s last over brought Sri Lanka screaming back into the match,as he first bowled Rishad Hossain, and then nailed Taskin Ahmed in front of the stumps with a pinpoint swinging yorker. This left Bangladesh eight wickets down, with 12 runs still to get.
However, the experienced Mahmudullah was at the crease for Bangladesh, and despite some further nervy moments, pushed Bangladesh across the line off the last ball of the 19th over.
But this was a match chiefly decided by Bangladesh’s own outstanding bowling. Mustafizur Rahman was the best among them, using shorter lengths and his cutters efficiently, to claim figures of 3 for 17. Rishad Hossain’s three-for through the middle overs also kept Sri Lanka quiet.
Mustafizur was instrumental in Sri Lanka’s downward spiral through the middle overs, which culminated in a crash-and-burn end. Ultimately, their inability to find boundaries, or even rotate strike against good Bangladesh bowling resulted in their downfall. A score of 125 for 9 always seemed poor on a decent pitch, even if their bowlers made a match of it in the end.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 125 for 8 in 19 overs (Towhid Hridoy 40, Litton Das 36; Dhanajaya de Silva 1-11, Nuwan Thushara 4-18, Wanidu Hasaranga 2-32, Matheesha Pathirana 1-27) beat Sri Lanka124 for 9 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 47, Dhananjaya de Silva 21; Tanzim Hasan Sakib 1-24, Taskin Ahmed 2-25, Mustafizur Rahman 3-17, Rishad Hossain 3-22) by two wickets
[Cricinfo]
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