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Magnificent Maxwell sinks South Africa in nail-biting T20I series decider
Glenn Maxwell had scored his first T20I fifty in a year and 11 innings to put Australia on track after they were teetering at 122 for 6, chasing 173, in the 14th. Australia needed 12 runs from 12 balls to complete their highest successful chase at home. Kagiso Rabada was bowled out. What could possibly go wrong from there?
Corbin Bosch took two wickets in two balls in a penultimate over that ended as a double-wicket maiden. Maxwell refused a run off the last ball to keep strike in the final over and Lungi Ngidi was tasked with defending nine runs. His first ball was hit out to deep wide long-on where Bosch flicked the ball back in-field as he leapt over the rope to save four. Then Maxwell beat Lhuan-dre Pretorius at deep cover for four and turned down another opportunity for a single with four runs to get. He reverse-hoicked Ngidi over short third to seal the deal off the second last ball of the match and confirm his status as the big show in a thrilling finale.
Australia are now undefeated in their last seven bilateral T20I series. Of those, this was the first one in that time that went down to a decider and they showed their mettle under pressure. South Africa, on the other hand, have only won one of their last 10 T20I series. They have lost their last three finals in the last over, dating back to last year’s T20 World Cup and including last month’s tri-series final against New Zealand in Zimbabwe, and questions about their ability to close out close games will continue.
The drama aside, South Africa simply did not have enough runs after a slow start. None of their top three got going and it was thanks to Dewald Brevis and Tristan Stubbs’ fourth wicket stand of 61 off 29 balls that they built towards a competitive total, which they made a fist of defending. They had Australia in trouble on 88 for 4 in the 11th over and 122 for 6 in the 14th over but Maxwell was strong square of the wicket, held his nerve and struck at 172.22 to finish with 62 not out off 36 balls and take Australia home.
With the Cairns surface noticeably slower than the Darwin one, the role of spin was always going to be a talking point and Adam Zampa had the first decisive say. He was brought on in the over after the powerplay and could have had a wicket with his first ball. Brevis miscued a pull but Maxwell could not get to the chance in time. Zampa only had to wait four more deliveries to get a reward. Ryan Rickelton misread the googly, played a premeditated sweep shot and top-edged straight up. Rassie van der Dussen was unable to get Zampa away and Stubbs, who reverse-swept Zampa for two fours, fell playing the conventional sweep. He moved across his stumps, missed the shot and was bowled to leave Zampa with an excellent return of 2 for 24 from his four overs.
Nathan Ellis celebrates the key wicket of Dewald Brevis [Cricinfo]
Brevis picked up exactly where he left off after his unbeaten 125 in game two and swivel-pulled the fifth ball he faced over the stadium roof. He went on to top-edge Josh Hazlewood over backward square leg for another six and hit Aaron Hardie for four sixes in the 10th over, which cost 27 runs.
Brevis’ fifty came off 22 balls and he looked set for another century before Maxwell stopped him. As Brevis tucked into a slower short ball from Nathan Ellis and pulled it wide of long-on, Maxwell made significant ground and ran to his right, where he completed the catch diving forward. That was his second stunner of the series after catching Rickelton on the rope in the first match.
While South Africa’s captain Aiden Markram has now gone 31 T20I innings without a half-century, Australia’s skipper Mitchell Marsh broke his drought with a first fifty in 19 innings. He also played his part in Australia’s first half-century opening stand in eight matches.
Marsh got the chase underway when he pulled the last ball of Kagiso Rabada’s opening over – a slower one – into the crowd for six. He gave a Lungi Ngidi cross-seam delivery the same treatment and then hit Kwena Maphaka’s first delivery for four, over mid-off. Rabada could not hold on to a tough return chance when Marsh was on 25 and then saw the fifth ball of his second over flicked over square leg for another six. Left-arm spinner Senuran Muthusamy bore the brunt of Marsh’s big-hitting and was taken for 17 runs off the eight balls he bowled to him, including two sixes that bookended his opening over. Marsh’s fifty also came off Muthusamy, off the 35th ball he faced.
Australia were cruising on 64 without loss after seven overs when Markram brought himself back on in what he has called “gut feel” decision-making over when and how much to bowl. Four deliveries into his second over, Travis Head played a full-blooded pull back towards him. Markram dived to his left but couldn’t take the catch in what turned out to be a boundary-preventing stop. Two balls later, Head top-edged a sweep to short fine and Markram had sparked a collapse. In the next over, Bosch bowled Inglis for a golden duck, then Maphaka had Marsh and Cameron Green caught on the boundary. Australia lost four wickets for 22 runs in the space of 18 balls and South Africa were back in the game.
Australia needed 27 runs off the last three overs, Maxwell was on 39 off 25 balls and Rabada was about to bowl his final over. The balance of the game, it seemed, hung on those six balls. Rabada started off with a full toss that went over Maxwell’s head and was called a no-ball. Maxwell punished him by hitting the free hit, a low full toss, for six.
Two balls later, Maxwell guided Rabada over short third and then brought up fifty off 30 balls with a single to long-on. Rabada conceded 15 runs in that over as Maxwell took control. It looked like a simple win from there, with Australia needing 12 off 12 and with Maxwell at the crease they would always have backed him to finish the job.
Brief scores:
Australia 173 for 8 in 19.5 overs (Glenn Maxwell 62*, Mitchell Marsh 54, Travis Head 19, Tim David 17, Kagiso Rabada 2-32, Aisen Markram 1-06, Kwena Maphaka 2-36, Corbin Bosch 3-26 ) beat South Africa 172 for 7 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 13, Lihuan-dre Pretorius 24, Dewald Brevis 53, Tristan Stubbs 25, Rassie van der Dussen 38; Josh Hazelwood 2-30, Nathan Ellis 3-31, Adam Zampa 2-24) by two wickets
[Cricinfo]
Harshitha Samarawickrema’s splendid 48 not out off 37 balls took Sri Lanka over the line in a low-scoring thriller against Bangladesh. The defending champions secured a semi-final berth with a four-wicket win, and by virtue of topping Group B, will play the side that finishes second in Group A on Friday.
An excellent opening spell of 2 for 17 from Marufa Akter put Bangladesh in firm control of the match after they posted a below-par target of 115, thanks to Chamudi Prabodha’s career-best figures of 3 for 21.
Sri Lanka found themselves behind the required run rate for much of the chase after losing their top order inside the powerplay and slipping to five down by the tenth over. But a resolute Samarawickrama brought Sri Lanka back into the contest by absorbing the pressure throughout the middle overs before landing the final punches to seal the win. This was Sri Lanka’s seventh consecutive win over Bangladesh.
Praboda strangles Bangladesh
This was only the sixth international match the 17-year-old left-arm spinner had played after making her debut against Pakistan in a three-match T20I series last month, and she doubled her tally of wickets on Sunday.
As Bangladesh looked to rebuild after Juairiya Ferdous fell in the fifth over, Praboda struck in her first over, the seventh of the match, to send the dangerous-looking Dilara Akter back to the hut two balls after being hit for a boundary by her. Dilara made a run-a-ball 26 after adjusting to the slow surface. She made her attacking intent known in the third over when she dispatched three consecutive balls from Sri Lanka pacer Chethana Vimukthi for boundaries.
Praboda and the other Sri Lankan spinners bowled with great discipline and used their variations with great guile to put a stranglehold on the Bangladesh batters, who managed just 114 for 8.
With Sobhana Mostary (34 off 41) and Shorna Akter (9 off 14) stretching their steady 41-run stand into the death overs, the Bangladesh dugout must have anticipated a much bigger total than what they eventually managed. Their hopes were bulldozed by Praboda in her last over as she accounted for both batters inside three balls. The left-arm spinner bamboozled Mostary with flight to have her stumped before drawing Dilara into chipping a tossed-up delivery back to her.
An unlucky outing for Athapaththu
Nilakshi Silva and Vimukthi dropped sitters off Chamari Athapaththu’s bowling, with the former putting down Mostary in the 14th over. Athapaththu eventually got a wicket in her last over, but missed out on a second when on-field umpire Humaira Farah turned down a clear caught-behind appeal off the last ball of her spell.
During the chase, her stay at the crease lasted only two balls, as Fahima Khatun took a sharp catch at first slip when she advanced down the pitch to smash Marufa over the top of her head. That shot, on any other day, would have landed in the stands, as is often the case when Athapaththu charges at the bowlers.
Marufa turns a straightforward chase into a contest
Bangladesh needed early wickets to make a contest of what many expected to be a cakewalk for Sri Lanka, with the required rate below a run-a-ball at the start of the chase. Marufa delivered exactly what was needed, accounting for both Sri Lankan openers.
Marufa had Athapaththu caught at first slip off the last ball of the first over before bowling a jaffa in her next over, rattling Imesha Dulani’s stumps with one that ripped through the gate. Her three powerplay overs yielded 2 for 17.
Sri Lanka’s middle order crumbled under pressure as Sanjana Kavindi was bowled by Sultana Khatun off the last ball of the powerplay. They were soon five down for 44 in the tenth over, but a gutsy 38-run stand between Samarawickrama and Nilakshika Silva brought them back into the contest and threatened to take the game away from Bangladesh.
Desperate for a breakthrough, Bangladesh captain Nigar Sultana returned to her trump card in the 17th over, and Marufa obliged with a perfect over to shift the momentum back in her side’s favour. The seamer bowled Silva and conceded only four runs to finish with career-best T20I figures of 3 for 21. It was the fourth time in her 48-match T20I career that she had taken three wickets in the format.
Samarawickrama finishes the job
Ritu Moni had been immaculate in her first three overs, but Samarawickrama plundered 16 runs off her last over – the most conceded in an over in the match – to swing the game in Sri Lanka’s favour.
A lucky inside edge off the second ball raced to the fine-leg boundary as Moni followed Samarawickrama after she backed away to make room on the off side. The next ball landed straight into the advertising cushion at midwicket as the batter swept the medium pacer for six. She then danced down the wicket to launch Nahida Akter for a towering six down the ground, reducing the equation to two off the final over.
The win came off the second ball of the final over, with the ball trickling past the keeper after brushing her pad.
Scores:
Sri Lanka Women 115 for 6 in 19.2 overs (Imesha Dulani 12, Harshitha Samarawickrama 48*, Nilakshika Silva 18, Kaushini Nuthyangana 11*; Marufa Akter 3-21, Sultana Khatun 1-14, Ritu Moni 1-29) beat Bangladesh Women 114 for 8 in 20 overs (Dilara Akter 26, Juairia Ferdous 14, Solbhana Mostary 34, Fahima Khatun 14; Sugandika Kumari 2-22, Chamari Athapaththu 1-20, Chamudi Praboda 3-21, Kavisha Dilhari 1-17) by four wickets
[Cricinfo]
Pakistan were bowled out for 55, their lowest total in T20I cricke. A collapse where they lost six wickets for eight runs in 29 balls set them so far back that they couldn’t even bat out 20 overs. Harmanpreet Kaur, who broke new ground by becoming the first player – male or female – to lead her team 150 times in T20Is, had the time of her life celebrating each wicket and eventually scoring the winning runs as well.
Shree Charani shines
Old-fashioned left-arm spin is having a resurgence. India men have found Manav Suthar. India women already had N Shree Charanin. The No. 1-ranked T20I bowler in the world picked up two wickets in her first over on Saturday.
The flight on the ball drew Gull Feroza out of her crease. The drift in had her looking leg side. The dip and the turn resulted in a leading edge and a simple catch to point. The bowler did everything right. The batter did everything wrong. Shawaal Zulfiqar was the only Pakistan batter to put any kind of pressure on India. Charani had her lbw for 14 off 14 and from there it was a procession.
Pakistan’s batting troubles
Playing their 200th T20I, Pakistan went from 27 for 0 to 35 for 6 before the innings was halfway done. They could not find a risk-free way to score runs, absorbing long periods of dot balls and trying to get out of it by playing low-percentage shots, often against the turn, on a Dubai pitch that was offering plenty of it. Only the openers got to double digits and only Zulfiqar was able to score a run a ball.
Rawat’s support act
Prema Rawat finished with figures of 4-0-9-3. Nineteen of her 24 balls were dots. All of that is remarkable considering she is a legspinner, whose release points tend to be just shy of the perpendicular. Like Shane Warne. From there, they turn their wrist over and it can either be awesome or awful. Rawat’s release point is perpendicular, maybe even beyond it, like Rashid Khan’s. And she doesn’t turn her wrist. For the most part, she just flicks the ball out the front of her hand. This gives her better control at the cost of big turn and in T20Is, that trade-off is well worth it. Nobody could hit Rawat off her line and length and when Sadaf Shamas tried, she got bowled off her pads.
A simple enough chase
Scores:
India Women 57 for 3 in 8.4 overs (Shafali Verma 12, Harmanpreet Kaur 18*, Deepti Sharma 12*; Fatima Sana 3-17) beat Pakistan Women in 18.1 overs 55 (Muneesha Ali 13, Shawal Zulfiqar 14, Shafali Verma 1-10, Shree Charani 3-07, Deepti Sharma 2-05, Prema Rawat 3-09) by seven wickets
(Cricinfo)
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Sun directly overhead Bentota, Thiniyawala, Iththakanda, Udawalawe, and Kataragama about 12.08 noon t9day (06)
The sun is going to be directly over the latitudes of Sri Lanka from 28th of August to 07th of September due to its apparent southward relative motion.
The nearest places of Sri Lanka over which the sun is
overhead today (06) are Bentota, Thiniyawala, Iththakanda, Udawalawe, and Kataragama about 12.08 noon
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