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With New Zealand already in the final, Australia and India faced off at the SCG in the second semi-final to see who would join them. (Spoiler: it’s Australia). Here are the ratings for that match.
South Africa
Grade: B+
The first semi-final between New Zealand and South Africa was one of the very best in World Cup history.
It was so good that it had most sensible cricket fans scurrying around, trying to find a way to skip this match entirely and just have South Africa play New Zealand again in the final.
By ‘most’ cricket fans, I am, of course, excluding a billion or so Indian fans (plus a relative handful of Australian ones), which, I’ll grant you, is an unorthodox interpretation of the word ‘most’.
Still, with no such loophole available, the Australia vs India semi-final went ahead.
Some consolation could be had with the thought that even if the second semi-final was only half as entertaining as the New Zealand vs South Africa one, then that first one was still twice as good.
Steve Smith
Grade: A
David Warner was out early and Steve Smith came in to show everybody in the world how ridiculously simple it is to bat at an international level.
Finding it much less simple was Aaron Finch, who was struggling terribly with his timing. Although, to be fair, his accuracy was exquisite, with almost every shot drilled straight to a fielder in the circle.
Realistically, it’s probably more sensible for a batsman to get out these days rather than continue to bat with Smith and be shown up for the entire partnership. I mean, lawks. How embarrassing.
Smith eventually grew fed up with Finch’s slow batting and smashed a straight drive down the ground, touching the finger of the Indian bowler on the way to clattering into the stumps. It was great thinking from the captain-in-waiting, who was unlucky not to snare the wicket.
Smith went on to score his inevitable century, which the massive Indian crowd at the SCG applauded enthusiastically. Great sportsmanship from the fans of the men in blue.
Slow batting
Grade: C
Finch’s lengthy innings of 81 (118) limited Glenn Maxwell’s chances to make a madcap triple century. But he wasn’t the only one struggling to score quickly on this pitch. Once Maxwell came and went a mere 277 short of that thrilling landmark, Michael Clarke and Shane Watson were paired at the crease and immediately began squabbling over who would fill the slowpoke Aaron Finch role.
As those two squabbled, the likely total plummeted from 350-plus down to something closer to 310. Australia must have pondered having Maxwell shave during the 20 minutes he was out and sending him back in to see if India noticed. It was definitely worth a try.
Instead, Australia stuck to the more traditional one-turn-at-bat-each policy that’s threatening to turn modern cricket into a snoozefest.
It was left to the renowned finisher Mitch Johnson to blast 27 off 9 deliveries to see Australia to a total of 7/328.
India needed 329 to win, although 328 would be sufficient to see them go through based on a superior group performance. Obviously, then, their plan would be to aim for the tie first, and only once that was achieved, go for the win.
Virat Kohli’s bowling
Grade: D
During the Australian innings, Virat Kohli came on to bowl one over of very-off-spin. It went for seven runs and he was instantly removed from the attack.
Kohli is a proud man. When he came out to bat, then, he was left with little choice but to be dismissed by Johnson for one run off 13 deliveries.
Those bowling figures don’t look so bad now, do they?
Appealing
Grade: A-
As wickets fell in the chase, and India fell further and further behind the required run rate, Australia contrived increasingly unlikely ways to ensure the match remained appealing.
There was a low catch early by Shane Watson, who moved like a panther (or possibly a Panzer) at slip. There was only a half-appeal for this catch and it was knocked back by the third umpire on the basis that all such low catches are knocked back by the third umpire.
Later in the innings, Mitchell Starc gathered the ball in his follow-through and hurled the ball back at the stumps, only to hit the batsman. He appealed for obstructing the field, but was also knocked back, this time on the basis that people have forgotten this is an actual method of dismissal.
Finally, a catch to Brad Haddin was ignored by everybody and only overturned on DRS when real-time snicko showed the tiniest of edges. A shame, as I was originally hoping that the referral would be knocked back on the basis that nobody appealed, although the third umpires seem to rarely check this.
And, as it turns out, Steve Smith appeals for every delivery anyway, precisely to mitigate such a risk. Professional stuff. No wonder he’ll be leading Australia in the 2019 World Cup.