We’re halfway through the World T20 Super 10 round, everybody’s favourite round that takes the side of Kryptonians in the upcoming Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice movie. And, fittingly, the bat has not been as dominant as we might have expected in this tournament so far.
Here are the ratings from the first half of the Super 10 round of the World T20.
Concern for the feelings of others
Grade: B+
New Zealand lost their captain and most experienced T20 player, Brendon McCullum, in a freak retirement accident just prior to this tournament commencing. However, this hasn’t stopped the Kiwis from easily disposing of both India and Australia in their first two games.
More:
» Australia-Bangladesh highlights
» Australia-Bangladesh scorecard
A bit of a concern for the Black Caps, who having never lost a T20 international to India, are now obviously in grave danger of being ‘invited’ to ‘qualify’ for the next World T20.
Still, being the legendarily nice bunch of chaps that they are, the team have done their best to soften the blow to their opponents’ egos. Where other teams (*cough* South Africa *cough*) obnoxiously run up scores of 200 or more given half an opportunity, New Zealand instead seem hellbent on going through the tournament not just undefeated but also at no point scoring more than 150.
Godspeed, lads.
Pakistan
Grade: B-
Pakistan, meanwhile, played Bangladesh in their opening game, with the Bangladesh team huge favourites, given the massive momentum advantage from their three victories in the first round (aka the ‘qualifying’ round, aka the ‘Ewww, Associate nations, what are they doing here?’ round).
But Pakistan dug deep, first building a large total with the methodical relentlessness for which they’re so renowned, before ruthlessly cutting down any prospect of a successful Bangladesh chase.
Classic Pakistan. Cold. Precise. Clinical.
No, wait. That’s not classic Pakistan at all. Their second game against India, where they spluttered their way to 5-118 in a rain-reduced match of 18 overs, then blew away the Indian top order with an awesomely inexplicable pace onslaught on a raging turner, before eventually succumbing to the irresistible wrath of Virat Kohli, was much more like it.
Joe Root’s fury
Grade: A
Over in the other group, England lost their first game of the tournament to Chris Gayle, who you probably best remember from that embarrassing incident during last summer’s Big Bash (i.e. scoring just the one half-century for the Melbourne Renegades in eight attempts).
England had no answer to Gayle. But they did have an answer to South Africa, chasing down a total of 229 in their second match. Their record run-chase was powered by Alex Hales, whose terrible misfield during the lone over that Joe Root bowled infuriated England’s best batsman to such an extent that when he arrived at the crease he blasted 83 (44) to secure victory.
Let that be a lesson to you, Hales.
Mohammad Shahzad
Grade: A+
South Africa didn’t do much better at defending a 200-plus total when they played Afghanistan. This time it was Mohammad Shahzad who successfully teed off, despite the Afghanistan opener having seemingly no beef whatsoever with Alex Hales’ sloppy outfielding. Shahzad scored 44 (19) to give his team hope of a major upset before the enormity of the task eventually proved too much.
In the press conference after the match, Shahzad also went on to express disappointment that he didn’t get the chance to face Dale Steyn, who he declared “not dangerous”.
Afghanistan: bottom of the table in terms of boring old points, miles ahead of everybody else in terms of gloriously infectious bravado.
Sri Lanka
Grade: C
Sri Lanka are also a team playing in this tournament.
Australia
Grade: F
Which brings us to Australia. As mentioned above, in their first game against New Zealand, they collapsed out of nowhere to a humiliating defeat. Which, more than anything else, signified that the World T20 had finally started.
It was a pretty shambolic chase all round. Steve Smith was stumped halfway down the pitch, apparently trying to steal a bye from Mitch Santner, despite the ball going straight into the keeper’s gloves. Then Usman Khawaja was run out because that is now officially the easiest method by which to dismiss him. And, of course, Glenn Maxwell’s spontaneous decision halfway through his innings to bat the rest of the tournament left-handed didn’t bear as much fruit as fans might have hoped.
Naturally, then, this batting collapse meant that Ashton Agar was dropped for Australia’s second game. Not that it made an awful lot of difference, with Australia’s middle order collapsing yet again against Bangladesh. However, Bangladesh’s fielding incompetence, which saw several dropped catches and missed run outs, was enough to see Smith’s men home, despite the Australians’ best efforts to knock themselves out of the tournament after just two games.
Still, Paul Reiffel’s having a heck of a tournament as an umpire. Best performing Australian so far.
Well, him and Luke Ronchi.
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