David Warner wasn’t at all impressed with Australia being a lowly seventh in the world T20 rankings in the lead-up to the current tri-series against England and New Zealand.
“It doesn’t sit well with us,” was the stand-in skipper’s comment.
Having won all four of their games in this tournament, if Warner’s troops can beat the Kiwis in the final at Eden Park tonight, Australia will crack the world number one ranking for the first time since the format was introduced in 2005.
What a transformation.
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Even if India whitewashes South Africa in the Republic, Australia will remain number one with a win.
Tonight could be a double celebration, with Australia’s 100th start in the shortest format, with a 53rd victory. Hardly a startling stat, in fact 53 per cent is only the fourth best among the most successful countries.
Currently ranked third, India holds the highest rate, with 56 wins from 92 internationals for 60.87 per cent. Top-ranked Pakistan has won 74 of their 123 internationals for 60.16 per cent.
Even South Africa, currently ranked fourth, have won 43 of their 104 for 58.42 per cent.
But Warner has done a superb job as stand-in skipper for a rested Steve Smith as Australia has only won five successive T20s once in 99 starts.
(AAP Image/Tracey Nearmy)
Winning three internationals against England in England was backed up by winning two against South Africa in Australia in 2014.
And four of them were comprehensive wins, after sneaking home by 13 in the first against the English, followed by eight wickets, 84 runs, five wickets, and six wickets.
Only Aaron Finch, Chris Lynn, and Glenn Maxwell were involved in the first five wins on the trot, and the current side.
Against England in January-February 2014 were Cameron White, Finch, Maxwell, George Bailey (c), Lynn, Dan Christian, Josh Hazlewood, Moises Henriques, Mitchell Starc, Brad Hodge, Matt Wade, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Ben Cutting, and James Muirhead.
There were a few changes in March 2014 against South Africa, with Warner, Finch, White, Shane Watson, Maxwell, Bailey (c), Hodge, Brad Haddin, Henriques, Starc, Coulter-Nile, Christian, and Brad Hogg lining up.
And there have been a lot of changes in the current squad with Warner (c), Finch (vc), Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Ben Dwarshuis, Travis Head, Lynn, Maxwell, Kane Richardson, D’Arcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye, and Adam Zampa all named.
On the basis of ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’, Dwarshuis, Head, and Zampa are likely to again miss out tonight, leaving Australia with enormous batting depth.
But all eyes will be on the attacks from both sides on the small Eden Park ground.
In their last meeting, last Friday night at the same venue, 32 sixes were smashed when nine of the 11 bowlers used finished with double-digit economy rates – the worst display of irresponsible bowling I’ve ever seen.
Only Agar, with three overs for 24, and Kiwi leggie Ish Sodhi, with four overs for 34, finished with single-digit economy rates among the carnage.
But with so much hinging on tonight’s result, expect Australia to lift in all responsibilities to finish on top of the world.
Adam
Guest
Good luck to them sounded like the game was a fizzer. My point was this tournament dragged on for too long and making it inaccessible for most at the pointy end made it worse
Doctor Rotcod
Guest
Their seem too be a awful lot of gramar police around he're
Arwin
Guest
"*You are joking, right?"
tyrone
Guest
because the NZ Super Rugby teams have their first game this weekend?
Ouch
Guest
Money, money, money.............................is what the smaller Cricket Unions like NZ need to survive. So they are not genuinely meaningless. NZ, SA, WI, SL, Pak etc struggle to grow because they don't make enough revenue elsewhere. Without the revenue from T20 games competitive cricket would be kept between Oz, India and England. Because they are about the only ones big enough to fund and grow the game. Over 30k will be at tonights game, just as it was the other night. Good money for NZ cricket and not meaningless to the 30 000 who attend. Maybe go and yell at a cloud or something.
Brian
Guest
Your joking right. At no point have i ever known who is ranked No 1. The only limited overs cricket that counts is World Cups. The fact that you can move from #7 to #1 by winning 5 games against 2 opponents in your corner of the world shows how farcical it is. The best T20 nation is the West Indies. Won 2 of the last 3 World Cups.
Geoff
Guest
History? More like a footnote no one will remember by the end of the year. T20I's are genuinely meaningless. Even with "trophies" like this one up for grabs. Might as well be the trans-tasman touch rugby tournament for the all prestige it holds. Money, money, money....
Matt H
Roar Guru
Well to be fair, most Kiwis never think about Rugby League. I'm looking forward to the match myself. It's a toss of the coin job for mine. Both sides have gun bats, so it will depend on who has the midas touch tonight.
Geoff
Guest
So it's the readers job to correct David Lords senility now? Jeez you love the bar being low don't you buddy?
David Lord
Expert
Adam, weather permitting there will be 35,000-plus at Eden Park tonight, and it would be fair to say none of them will be thnking about rugby league.
David Lord
Expert
cantab, Eden Park opened as a sports grpund in 1900, the first game of cricket was played there in 1903, the first official Test was between New Zealand and England in 1930.
David Lord
Expert
Paul, what does "the worst display of irresponsible bowling I've ever seen" suggest?
Adam Bagnall
Roar Guru
Is this tournament still going? I had limited interest in it to begin with then they head over to NZ and most of us miss the rest of the tournament. Watched some footy on the weekend, so cricket is on the backburner for me.
cantab
Guest
pretty sure Eden park is a 100+ year old ground. will be a test match there next month.
DaveJ
Guest
I’m afraid I’m with those who suggest dumping the T20 international format and leaving it to the leagues. Even the T20 so called World Cups, while entertaining, are soon forgotten. While the 50 over World Cup is still prestigious, it is that and Test Cricket where international reputations lie. While it’s nice for Australia to do well in T20s, i wouldn’t lose too much sleep over it. As for tonight, I fancy we won’t be quite so lucky against the 2 NZ spinners as we were against Sodhi alone, and that might make a crucial difference in favour of NZ.
Jeff
Guest
Please, one big scoring game and everyone is suddenly a critic. Remember the ODI WC game a couple of years ago where Australia only scored 150 there? The average T20 score at Eden Park is 160 FYI, which is about the same as most grounds. Am glad they are playing it in Auckland as it's the only city in NZ atm which is not effected by the cyclone. Wellington is being pelted by heavy rain right now so no game would have been the result.
twodogs
Guest
The bums on seats don't care Pedro, they want to see the ball going OVER the pickets.
Bob Sims
Guest
Interesting comments. I wonder if the windy weather will play a role?
Pedro The Fisherman
Roar Rookie
Has New Zealand found a real ground to play tonight's game on? Why not play it at the Basin Reserve ... at least it is a cricket ground.
Pedro The Fisherman
Roar Rookie
Correct. What would have been better is if Ram had highlighted that the math didn't look right and maybe researched the correct stats (it wasn't hard) instead of disparaging the author (whom I will wager knows a lot more about the game than Ram)