Sports
Hazlewood, Zampa down Sri Lanka in Australia’s winning start
In a game of contrasting halves, Sri Lanka were let down by their batting after the bowlers did a commendable job, particularly in the backend of Australia’s innings to restrict them to 149/9 in 20 overs. In response, Sri Lanka just couldn’t get going and were pushed back further by Adam Zampa and Josh Hazlewood, who picked seven wickets between them to help Australia begin the post-Langer era with a 20-run victory.
Mitchell Starc and Hazlewood got the ball to shape and swing early, bowling 12 dot balls in the first three overs of Sri Lanka’s chase. In a bid to not let the effort of their bowlers go in vain, Sri Lankan batters started to chuck their bats at most deliveries, in what proved to be an utterly chaotic PowerPlay in chase. The approach brought a couple of ballsy sixes, but Australia also accounted for the wickets of Danushka Gunathilaka and Aviska Fernando and Sri Lanka could only manage 30/2 in 6 overs.
Sri Lanka’s hopes of getting a move on in the middle-overs were dented by Adam Zampa and his quest to carry forward his T20 World Cup squad from last November. Though Pathum Nissanka and Charith Asalanka got a few boundaries going off Starc and Cummins after the PowerPlay, Zampa returned to dismiss both of them in a single over – Nissanka skying a loopy delivery to long on and Asalanka miscuing a slog sweep off a googly, hitting to Steve Smith at deep midwicket. Sri Lanka promoted Hasaranga in an effort to push up the scoring rate, but that experiment lasted a couple of overs before Hasaranga became Zampa’s third wicket. Just as Zampa was dismantling Sri Lanka’s chase, a second rain break brought a brief halt to the game. It seemed like the sort of break Sri Lanka would have benefitted from, getting to regroup after a shaky period, but when play resumed, they fell further down the abyss. Sri Lanka were set a revised target of 143 in 19 overs, but that was a bridge too far for the visitors.
That’s because Hazlewood bowled two superbly disguised slower ones to see the back of captain Dasun Shanaka and Chamika Karunaratne in the first over after resumption to leave Sri Lanka at 90 for 7. Dinesh Chandimal hit Pat Cummins for two boundaries to indicate the chase was still not dead, but the urgency meant more risks, which led to Dushmanta Chameera’s wicket at the other end, becoming Hazlewood’s fourth wicket of the evening. The Australian pacer finished with figures of 4 for 12 in 4 overs, a spell that also included 11 dot balls.
Earlier in the day, Sri Lanka’s bowlers vindicated Shanaka’s call to bowl first. That was chiefly led by Hasaranga and his now-famously deceptive wrong ‘un, that first befuddled Aaron Finch inside the PowerPlay. Hasaranga went on to deceive Glenn Maxwell and Steve Smith too – the former with a loopy full toss and the latter with a googly – but runs came thick and fast off him. Between these wickets, Australia’s essay was rebuilt by debutant Josh Inglis and BBL hotshot Ben McDermott, who went on to score his maiden T20I fifty.
Australia were going along at a good pace, on course for a big total in the vicinity of 170-180, until Hasaranga’s third wicket ruffled feathers. Chamika Karunaratne ended McDermott’s fine knock at 53 in an exceptional five-run over at the death, but Australia still had a shot at turning the tables. Marcus Stoinis wreaked havoc on Maheesh Theekshana and Dushmantha Chameera, taking Australia from 111 for 5 in 15 overs to 140 for 5 in 17. However, the next three exceptional overs came with the potential to re-steer the direction in which the fixture was headed.
Binura Fernando snuffed out both Stoinis and Matthew Wade off successive balls, and Chameera dismissed Starc and Cummins. Australia lost four wickets in that short space, scoring just nine runs in the last three overs to limp to 149 for 9. At the halfway stage it looked a tad under-par, but the Australian bowlers made mincemeat of that projection, securing a comfortable 20-run victory.
(Cricbuzz)
From their last completed game against Australia, Zimbabwe ought to bring Richard Ngarava back into the XI, with the left-arm seamer rested for that outing as a precautionary measure. Leggie Graeme Cremer could miss out, although the possibility of resting Blessing Muzarabani cannot be ruled out either, should Zimbabwe want an additional spinner.
[Cricbuzz]
Regular skipper Wayne Madsen has missed the last two games due to an injury in the opening fixture and remains a doubtful starter for their last group game as well.
[Cricbuzz]
Sahibzada Farhan settled his side’s nerves with a blazing unbeaten hundred, as Namibia were outgunned by 102 runs in Colombo to end any doubts about Pakistan’s progression to the T20 World Cup Super Eight. With 11 fours and four sixes, Farhan produced a perfect burst of acceleration against a toiling attack. His second fifty of his 57-ball century came from just 20 balls. And his eventual 100 not out from 58 balls would be more runs than Namibia managed (97) before being bowled out.
Needing a victory (or, at the very least, a washout) to keep the hopefuls of USA at bay, Pakistan produced the most comprehensive win of their campaign. It was sealed by their four-man spin cohort. Mohammad Nawaz led a mid-innings squeeze with 1 for 22 in his four overs, before Shadab Khan and Usman Tariq dovetailed for each of Namibia’s last seven wickets.
Shadab was the main character of their victory surge. He had earlier been pushed up to No. 5, ahead of Babar Azam, to help Farhan thrash 78 runs from the final six overs of their innings. He then followed up with 3 for 19, the last of them coming via a superb diving catch at square leg from Saim Ayub, off Zane Green, which spoke of Pakistan’s mounting confidence.
Shadab himself was also in the act with a smart catch at midwicket, to claim the first breakthrough of Tariq’s late entrance. Though he didn’t bowl until the 12th over, Tariq’s extraordinary repertoire of carrom balls and delayed-release leggies proved unfathomable to Namibia’s lower-order. Ruben Trumpelmann and Bernard Scholtz were both bowled through the gate by perfect googlies, before Willem Myburgh snicked off to a legbreak, to cap Tariq’s career-best figures of 4 for 16.
It wasn’t the perfect performance from Pakistan. In particular, their batting powerplay was a microcosm of their campaign: rarely convincing, yet still doing the needful in spite of some ugly moments. Ayub’s 14 from 12 balls comprised two leading edges and a flying nick for four past the keeper; Farhan’s first boundary came via a misfield in the covers, and his second to a similarly wild hack through deep third off Jack Brassell, moments after he had flung his bat through square leg while mistiming a cut through point.
But, by degrees, Pakistan settled into their work, emboldened by every over in which their under-performing middle-order was spared early exposure. Namibia rang in the changes, rotating through six options in their first eight overs. But it was their two bowlers serving up back-to-back overs who inadvertently released the mounting pressure.
Farhan found his range with back-to-back fours off Ruben Trumpelmann, including an unrepentant slog through midwicket, then took his new-found poise out on Willem Myburgh. The legspinner’s first over had gone for just five; his second realized three vast sixes, with Farhan contributing back-to-back slog-sweeps. Though he ended the same over in a heap, after jarring his knee during a drive, the shackles were officially off.
Farhan nudged the first ball of the 12th over through midwicket to bring up a 37-ball half-century. Twenty balls later, he did likewise to Gerhard Erasmus, to cavort through to his maiden T20I hundred. His was also the third of this year’s tournament, a new record.
In between whiles, his acceleration was violent and unrelenting, though it did not begin in earnest until the 15th over, when Trumpelmann’s slower balls were collared for back-to-back fours down the ground. That sounded the bugle charge. JJ Smit’s left-arm spin was then smoked for 17 runs, including two more fours and a baseball slug for six; and Brassell’s last was sent for 20, with Farhan marching into the 90s as he hoisted a slower ball over fine leg for his fourth six.
Salman Agha played a vital part in Pakistan’s uptick. His 38 from 23 balls included three fours and two sixes, as he helped propel his team to 107 for 1 after 12. He was livid with himself when he holed out to mid-off with his job far from done, and Khawaja Nafay’s five-ball stay meant Pakistan were soon in familiar danger at 118 for 3 in the 14th. But in came Shadab, with licence to swing his bat. He was only too eager to deliver.
Namibia needed ten an over from the outset, and they did give it a go in the powerplay. Faheem Ashraf was an unlikely candidate bowling the first over, with Shaheen Afridi paying the price for some leaky displays so far in the tournament – and consequently dropped. Ashraf’s introduction looked doubly sketchy when Louren Steenkamp picked his third-ball slower ball to pump him over the sightscreen.
Pakistan’s frailties were all too apparent in the same over. Nawaz dropped a sitter at deep midwicket off Jan Frylinck. Soon, at 32 for 0 after four, Namibia were putting up a decent challenge.Salman Mirza, however, switched ends to bowl Frylinck through the gate for 9, and when Jan Loftie-Eaton ruined his strong start by attempting a non-existent run to Agha at mid-off, the downturn was swift and decisive. Nawaz made amends for his catching by luring Steenkamp into a top-edged swipe for 23, and four balls later, Shadab snicked off the captain, Erasmus, with a big legbreak in his first over. The end would follow swiftly.
Brief scores:
Pakistan 199 for 3 in 20 overs (Sahibzadz Farhan 100*, Saim Ayub 14, Salman Agha 38, Shadab Khan 36*; Gerhard Erasmus 1-25, Jack Brassell 2-38) beat Namibia 97 in 17.3 overs (Louren Steenkamp 23, Alexander Busing Volschenk 20; Salman Mirza 1-11,Mohammad Nawaz 1-22, Usman Tariq 4-16, Shadab Khan 3-19) by 102 runs
[Cricinfo]
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