D’Arcy Short’s T20I spot is in jeopardy after a string of stilted efforts, including a tortured innings of 28 from 34 balls last night as Australia lost by 45 runs against Pakistan.
Australia will now play the world’s No.1 ranked T20I side Pakistan in the T20I tri-series final on Sunday in Harare, Zimbabwe.
Today Australia face Zimbabwe in what amounts to a dead rubber, with Zimbabwe out of the running for the final after losing all three of their matches in this series so far.
Last night Pakistan reminded Australia why they’re the top-ranked T20I team with a clinical display with both bat and ball.
Pakistan batted first on a somewhat slow deck and were highly impressive in making an above-par score of 7-194.
That fine total was built on a bludgeoning knock of 73 from 42 balls by opener Fakhar Zaman, the same man who tore out India’s heart in last year’s Champions Trophy with a scorching innings of 114 from 106 deliveries.
After bowling well in the first two matches of this tri-series Australia struggled with the ball last night from the very start of the match.
Pakistan got off to a flyer at 1-40 from four overs as opening bowlers Billy Stanlake and Jhye Richardson struggled to find the right length.
Australia’s support bowlers had similar issues and at no point did the tourists feel truly in control with the ball. A late cameo of 37no from 18 balls by Asaf Ali tipped Pakistan over to a very good total.
Australia’s hopes of chasing down this sizeable score once more rested on captain Aaron Finch, who has been in blazing form. Finch smashed a record-breaking 172 from 76 balls in Australia’s previous match against Zimbabwe.
But last night he was undone in the fourth over for 16 by a sensational piece of bowling by Pakistan’s latest pace prodigy – 18-year-old Shaheen Afridi.
The youngster troubled all of the Aussie batsmen during his spell of 3-37. When he trapped Australian wildcard Glenn Maxwell leg-before-wicket, to reduce the tourists to 3-49 after 6.5 overs, the match was almost over.
Short was still battling at the other end, having a hard time timing the ball whether against pace or spin. But he has looked particularly befuddled against slow bowlers over the past month, as he was during the last IPL, where he was dropped by the Rajastan Royals after a string of failures.
In Short’s four T20I innings for Australia in the past fortnight he has made 105 runs. The problem is that those runs have come at a glacial strike rate of 102, with his slow scoring tightly linked to his lack of comfort opposed to spin.
The saving grace for Short is that Australia have no reserve batsmen in their squad so he may well retain his place today and for the final against Pakistan on Sunday. Australia will need to improve greatly upon yesterday’s performance if they are to win the series decider.
JayG
Guest
Unfortunately, the way the Roar comments section has been lately, I could not tell if you were being sarcastic or not.. :) As a relatively new Roarer, has everybody suddenly turned into a Khawaja fan or is something amiss?
tim
Guest
Does he also need a good dose of military service?
BrainsTrust
Roar Rookie
Sensible comments George
BurgyGreen
Guest
Definitely needs a noteworthy innings in the next couple of T20 games to be worth a spot.
BurgyGreen
Guest
Frankly the IPL doesn't matter. He was man of the series in his last T20 series for Australia.
KenoathCarnt
Guest
Yes Cooper is left field but in that position he has been quite solid for Melbourne. He has tricky shots that manouver the field with a good strike rate and consistency. I know he played for the Netherlands but I think he can still play for Aus.
AREH
Roar Guru
Yeah I'm honestly far from convinced that Stoinis should be a lock in the T20I side, his domestic T20 record is modest at best; having passed 50 only three times from 49 innings with an average just over 20. All for his inclusion in the ODI team still, even if his form is currently down, because of the blistering innings he has already produced in that format.
Simoc
Guest
Except Burgy Green that Maxwell spent the whole IPL failing abysmally. He was hopeless. It has been a serious form loss. He'll be lucky to get invited back as will Darcy Short who seems to be in over his head at the moment. Without the best players available we need the others in Finch like form. Unfortunately Finch is having to do it all himself. Maxwell needs to clean up his act eg shave off the shaggy beard and make a fresh start. He bats as bad as he looks these days.
Joey Johns
Roar Guru
I think your last paragraph is pretty well off the mark. Wildermuth is an all rounder. Little doubt for me that he’d be an improvement on Short. Carey to open and wildermuth to bat at 7
George
Guest
Matt our top order struggled badly in the one day series in England, Khawaja would have been priceless there. And he just hasn’t done well against spin in county but also in South Africa where he handled mahraj with ease in tough spinning conditions. I Agree with Krishna that we need to stop making excuses on him
George
Guest
Langer is strong on fitness, he will fix this
BurgyGreen
Guest
I'm often perplexed by Stoinis. He seems to have everything that a T20 player requires - power, technique, comfort against both pace and spin, brisk, accurate bowling. Yet he averages in single figures with the bat at T20I level. I really hope he recovers his form in ODIs at least, because at his best he is awesome.
BurgyGreen
Guest
This is crazy. Maxwell's T20I record is amazing. No one on the planet makes runs every game, but Maxwell cops it every single time he makes a low score and gets no praise when he does well other than "you should be doing this every single game".
RogerTA
Roar Rookie
Thank God you came along Jay, for awhile I thought I'd woken up in an alternate universe where no one had a sense of humour ☺ P.S. or any sense ?
Paul
Roar Guru
you're right Krishna, Maxwell and Afridi are very much the same, tons of talent that is not used often enough.
Krishna Singh
Roar Rookie
Not good game for finch captain, should bat first when toss win, and why open with short when you know he slow
JayG
Guest
Exactly what I was thinking. While we're at it, maybe we can clone him and replace a few other players with him too ?
Ben
Roar Rookie
Finch is as much to blame if not more for not getting short to bat lower down the order. Chasing such a total they needed to get get a good start. Maxwell got a wicket and was more economical than agars 13.5 run rate and no wicket. He was similar to stoinis and should be bowled more. He was player of the tri series against England and New Zealand. Let’s leave it to the game on Sunday to judge.
Tanmoy Kar
Guest
It would be anybody's game in the Final, whoever gets a good start will win. Australia may finalize their Playing Xl in today's match against Zimbabwe.
Matt H
Roar Guru
Don't get me wrong I like Khawaja. He should be first picked for the tests, with Smith and Warner out. He should also be given another run in ODI's and T20's until Warner returns, to see if he can translate his domestic form into the international arena. But don't try to tell me that he has suddenly become any more competent against spin because he has mastered some county trundlers. Australian batsmen as a group are weak against quality spin in foreign conditions and Khawaja is no exception. And his omission is not a scandal. Our weaknesses have not been in the top order, where Khawaja plays, but in the middle order, where our options and very limited.