Sports
Zimbabwe seal stunning come-from-behind win
Led by Sikandar Raza’s triple strike, Zimbabwe scripted a come-from-behind win to down Pakistan by 1-run and make a seriously strong case for qualification to the semifinals of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022. For the second game in a row, Pakistan let a winning position slip away from their hands in the last over of the game, as they failed to score 4 runs off the last 4 balls in Perth, on Thursday.
Chasing 131 for a win, Pakistan were comfortably placed mid-way through the 14th over at 88 for 3, with Shadab Khan and Shan Masood having stitched a half-century stand. With victory in sight and the possibility of improving on the Net Run Rate, Shadab had even launched an attack on Raza, tonking the spinner for a six over the long on fielder. However, an attempt to repeat that in the next ball resulted in him mistiming it to the fielder at long off.
With only 43 runs needed off 38 balls, there still wasn’t enough reason for Pakistan to panic. However, Raza trapped Haider Ali legbefore off the first ball to trigger a collapse. In his next over, he even scalped the wicket of Shan Masood with a fast and flat delivery down the legside. Masood fell over while trying to balance himself and the wicketkeeper swiftly whipped the bails off to reduce Pakistan to 94 for 6 in 15.1 overs.
The Zimbabwe bowlers used the dimensions of the field well with their lengths of operation on a fast and bouncy track. The hard lengths proved difficult for the lower order batters to put away and Richard Ngarava especially troubled Mohammad Wasim with it. However, with the required rate mounting up, a bluff yorker went wrong and Nawaz duly put away the full toss for a six and brought the equation down to 11 off the last over.
In the last over bowled by Brad Evans, Wasim cracked a full delivery down the ground for a boundary soon after Nawaz had picked three runs off the first balls to bring the equation down to 4 runs in 4 balls, and then reduced to 3 from 3.
The onus was once again on Nawaz in the last over, with the fate of the team in his hands, this time with the bat. And he failed to take the team over the line yet again. First, he was beaten by length delivery that zoomed past his chest and then top edged a swipe to mid off, leaving Shaheen Afridi to get the remaining three runs off the last ball.
He, along with Wasim at the other end, scampered through for a non-existent two and was eventually run out.
How did Pakistan’s top order fare?
For as rare as it has been, for a second game in a row, Pakistan’s much-famed openers – Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan – struggled against the new ball early on. Babar was squared up by Evans and got a leading edge to the point fielder while Rizwan chopped on a rising delivery from Blessing Muzarabani on to his stumps. Soon enough, even Iftikhar Ahmed was dismissed, getting caught down the leg to leave Pakistan reeling 36 for 3 in 7.4 overs.
When Zimbabwe decided to bat first, Babar wasn’t too fussed. However, with no movement on offer for the Pakistani pacers early, Wesley Madevere and Craig Ervine were quick to put away their full length deliveries. In fact, Shaheen Afridi conceded 14 runs from his opening over – his most expensive first over in T20Is. Naseem Shah, who was greeted with a couple of boundaries to begin his day, didn’t have it much easier either. The opening duo combined to add 42 runs in 5 overs before Ervine was hurried into a pull by Haris Rauf and caught at fine leg. Even though both the openers fell in quick succession, followed by the dismissal of Milton Shumba, who offered an easy return catch to Shadab, their innings was controlled by Williams and Raza, who continued to keep the attack going. The veteran duo stitched 31 runs in 4.1 overs and had left a solid platform for a late assault.
Because in a matter of six balls, Shadab and Wasim snared four wickets, reducing Zimbabwe from 95 for 3 to 95 for 7. Evans and Luke Jongwe hit some useful runs towards the end, but a miserly spell by Haris Rauf ensured that they could only muster 130 for 8, even though 160 looked a likely total around the 14th over mark.
Having shared points with South Africa and beaten Pakistan, Zimbabwe are well placed to make a strong case for a semifinal berth. They will now be heading eastward to Brisbane to face Bangladesh on October 30 with a ‘nothing to lose’ possibility no more applicable. Pakistan, on the other hand, find themselves in a pretty tight situation and would need several results to go their way, starting with the one against Netherlands in Perth on Sunday.
Brief Scores:
Zimbabwe
130/8 in 20 overs (Sean Williams 31, Brad Evans 19; Mohammad Wasim Jr 4-24, Shadab Khan 3-23) beat Pakistan 129/8 in 20 overs (Shan Masood 44, Mohammad Nawaz 22; Sikandar Raza 3-25, Brad Evans 2-25) by 1 run (Cricbuzz)
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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