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Aussie bowlers rusty in World Cup opener

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Expert
2nd June, 2019
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Australia’s highly-rated bowling attack was patchy in their World Cup opener last night against a plucky Afghanistan line-up before their batsmen turned it on.

The Australian bowlers had two periods where they were impressive and made inroads but also a pair of phases where they lost their way, both in regards to strategy and execution.

It was the kind of laboured effort best purged early in the tournament and not again repeated. Against a powerful batting unit like England or India, the Aussies would have been punished for their waywardness and, at times, unwise tactics. They were fortunate Afghanistan did not have the batting line-up to make them pay, cobbling together just 207.

It wasn’t all bad for Australia though. Star quicks Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc made fine use of the new ball and had Afghanistan two down just eight balls into the innings. First Starc uprooted the off stump of cavalier opener Mohammad Shahzad with a searing full delivery. In his first ODI in seven months Starc bowled with intimidating pace in his opening spell of three overs and is showing signs of shaking off the rust accumulated during his long injury layoff.

At the other end Cummins continued his outstanding form when he had young Afghanistan opener Hazratullah Zazai caught behind with a ball that reared off a good length. The very next delivery Cummins almost found the edge of Hashmatullah Shahidi, and three balls later he caught the shoulder of Rahmat Shah’s bat with a nasty lifter.

Afghanistan were 2-5 and looked as though they may be blasted off the park by Australia’s quicks. But Shah and Shahidi steadied. The latter grafted for nearly an hour for his 18 before being beaten in the flight by Zampa and stumped.

It was a flatter delivery which soon earned Zampa his second breakthrough when Shah (43) fed a catch to Steve Smith at short cover. After working hard to rebuild their innings Afghanistan were suddenly at risk of collapsing when, in the next over, Smith completed a brilliant run out of Mohammad Nabi to leave the underdogs stumbling at 5-77.

Rather than succumbing to this pressure, the Afghans fought back. Najibullah Zadran (51 from 49 balls) and Gulbadin Naib (31 from 33 balls) played with skill and aggression as they rattled the Aussies with a sprightly stand of 83 from just 77 balls.

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Each of Australia’s five bowlers received some tap during this period – their quicks began bowling too short and Adam Zampa was smashed for 22 in an over, including four consecutive boundaries by Zadran. Although Zampa ended up with three wickets, it was not a great outing for the wrist spinner, who bled 60 runs from eight overs against the weakest batting line-up in this tournament.

Third seamer Nathan Coulter-Nile (0-36 from eight overs) also had a fairly ordinary match. He was the least threatening of all the Aussie bowlers and has now taken just three wickets at 55 in his last four outings for Australia. The West Australian may now come under pressure from fellow sandgroper Jason Behrendorff.

It was only a sequence of needlessly adventurous strokes by the Afghan middle-to-lower order that stopped them from posting a total of 250-plus. Zampa lost his rhythm and Australia’s quicks overdid the short balls as the innings wore on.

Adam Zampa celebrates with Steve Smith

(AAP Image/Paul Miller)

A late burst from Rashid Khan (27 from 11 balls) included an over from Stoinis that went for 21. On a good batting pitch, Afghanistan looked at least 100 runs short of par and about 50-60 runs short of a total that may have allowed them to turn the screws on Australia.

The air was rapidly let out of the contest when Aaron Finch laid into Afghan spin prodigy Mujeeb Ur Rahman. After being handed the new ball the youngster went for 24 from his first two overs and Australia’s openers cruised from there. There was plenty to like about Afghanistan’s performance, however.

If their batsmen can improve their shot selection they may cause an upset or two in this World Cup. Australia, meanwhile, will need to improve with the ball in their next match against the ballistic batting unit of the West Indies.

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