There’s no point in Shane Watson or Glenn Maxwell buying Lotto tickets this week, they both used their share of luck against Pakistan in Adelaide last night.
Watson was dropped a sitter at fine leg by Rahat Ali when he was only on 4, while Maxwell was dropped on 10 at third man by Sohail Khan – a harder chance, but very catchable.
The hapless bowler was left-armer Wahab Riaz who gave both batsmen a torrid bouncer workout, supported by sledging gobfulls, and blowing kisses to Watson.
Wahib’s spirited nine overs were among the best and most ferocious spells in the tournament.
Watson finished unbeaten on 64, Maxwell on 44 not out – adding an extra 98 runs between them in Australia’s seemingly easy six-wicket win to qualify for the World Cup semis against unbeaten India, the defending champions.
Australia can’t rely on Lady Luck calling the shots, they must bat a whole lot better, and more consistently, if they are to reach the decider.
In the Australian top six, only Steve Smith and to a lesser extent Maxwell can claim to be reliable – Smith because he’s the best bat in the side, and Maxwell because he rides his luck and to this point is laughing all the way to the run-bank.
Smith’s runs to date in the tournament are 5, 4, 95, 72, and 65. Maxwell’s 66, 1, 88, 102, and 44*.
The batting problems start with openers David Warner and Aaron Finch. So far they have shared stands of 57, 30, 14, 19, 30, and 15 – not good enough to win the World Cup.
Warner’s scored 22, 34, 178, 9, 21*, and 24. Finch 135, 14, 4, 24, 20, and 2 – both well below par.
Skipper Michael Clarke has scored 12, 68, 47, and 8. Watson 0, 23, 67, 24, and 64*.
Put their best digs together in the top six, and that’s what is expected of the Australian batting order.
The attack’s fine, led by Mitchell Starc, the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with 18 at 9.77. Mitchell Johnson has 10 at 24.50, Josh Hazlewood 6 at 17.50, Pat Cummins 5 at 16, and James Faulkner 4 at 25.50.
The fielding is brilliant.
Today the unbeaten New Zealand face the West Indies in the fourth quarter final at Wellington.
If ever there’s a master-blaster shoot-out looming this is it – between Kiwi skipper Brendon McCullum and the Windies ‘GayleForce’ Chris Gayle.
McCullum’s top score of 77 off 25 was against England with 8 fours and 7 sixes – a low score for him – while Gayle’s best is a tournament-high 215 off only 147 against Zimbabwe, with 10 fours and a world-record equalling 16 sixes.
If either tee off today, that will probably decide the issue to set up a semi-final against South Africa.
VivGilchrist
Guest
Don, don't expect mature comment from SC cricket fans as I can't help the average age of those posting is 14.
VivGilchrist
Guest
Is too much being made of this? Watson got through it and won the match, Clarke was the one that fell, and Australia cruised home with 15 overs to spare and 6 wickets in the sheds. Theme of this World Cup - Undermine Australia at every opportunity. Ps - I thought Starcs spell vs NZ was more impressive.
Peter
Roar Rookie
Was that reply directed at me, or as I expect, David? If not that's what I'd expect as I'm a generally anonymous poster. If so, well hey ho, I'm not sure why. Either way I think we have been better served in our quarter final than the other 3 teams as we had to work harder to win the game, care of Wahab's impressive bowling.
Don Freo
Guest
Me too.
bilal
Guest
I have a feeling Australia will be in all sorts of problems come the 26th so much for the hype around the tri-series.....
TheCunningLinguistic
Guest
You are dead-set dreaming...
raz
Guest
The ignorance here on roar regarding some of the other teams is really baffling. Umesh Yadav isnt the guy who had that incident ,it was Varun Aaron and he isnt even in the squad for this odi wc
raz
Guest
Firstly SA didnt play in that series 2 ndly india played only one match against Australia in that series ,and it went to the last over. Hardly a convincing win,and India was opening the bowling with kumar and binny in those matches.That series was nothing more than a practice matches for any indian player and ravi shastri has gone on record saying that. India has won its last odi series before that against england in england 4-1 .
raz
Guest
No where near as much??? Why dont you go have a look yourself,he averages a 50 in most cases in all of them .And India under dhoni has won more matches while chasing than they have lost,kohli and dhoni are two most clutch guys while chasing and pressure is on. I can go on and tear up stats of even the greatest of batsmen to look bad ,but that doeant take away that they were great batsmen regardless for eg how much di ponting avg in India??? I hppe you get my point.
raz
Guest
No where near as much??? Why dont you go have a look yourself,he averages a 50 in most cases in all of them .And India under dhoni has won more matches while chasing than they have lost,kohli and dhoni are two most clutch guys while chasing and pressure is on.
ak
Roar Guru
But no such dodging is possible against India. India will blow away Australia. Australia on its way to a loss to India in a WC semifinal just like it happened in the 2011 quarterfinal.
Davico
Guest
So Bilal is the World Cup being played in India? Otherwise what does Aus record over there mean diddly? -- Comment from The Roar's iPhone app.
Don Freo
Guest
And then Haddin would have scored 80 off 53 balls. We all know that. As David Lord would say, "Fact".
Kingo
Guest
Because he's a sledging bozo
Kingo
Guest
Don't be ridiculous Ronan did you watch the game ,watto shouldve been gone ,an under 10 cricketer would've caught that ,the Aussies got extremely lucky ,who knows what would've happened if the Pakis took their catches . The point being it exposed the weakness,and watto should buy a lottery ticket after the way he batted , that sort of thing may not happen against the other three teams.
Don Freo
Guest
Don't be f00led by a lack of cricket knowledge David. Apparently you can use that word in a headline but the moderators won't let me use it right back at you.
Don Freo
Guest
Why respect? 213 in a World Cup is not worthy of respect.
Kaks
Roar Guru
Raz, you seem to have forgotten how woeful India were in the tri-series with Australia and SA just before the world cup. Dont know what merits this sudden optimism.
Don Freo
Guest
We rarely use Haddin, Faulkner, Johnson, Starc. It was a simple four an over doddle that we finished 16 overs ahead of time. On that pace, we would have finished at 400 if we batted 50 overs.
Sandy
Guest
No soapit, nothing dodgy there.