Australia have dropped top spot at the Cricket World Cup on the final day of action as they fell to South Africa by ten runs in a thriller at Old Trafford.
As India handed Sri Lanka a beating in Leeds, Australia found themselves out of the contest on multiple occasions against a spirited Proteas side, and while they took it to the last over, poor starts in both innings simply left the Aussies too much to do.
On one of the best pitches for batting we have seen all tournament in Old Trafford, Aaron Finch lost his seventh toss in nine attempts, with South Africa batting first and getting off to a blinder.
While they have struggled for runs during the tournament, Aiden Markram and Quinton de Kock had no such issues at the top of the order, although they were assisted by some woeful bowling from the Australian quicks in the early going.
By the end of the powerplay, only the introduction of Nathan Lyon had brought with it any control and South Africa had motored along to 0 for 73 from the first ten overs.
Lyon would soon get rid of both openers though, and it helped to put the skids on South Africa for a period of time.
While there was some improved bowling from the quicks, they were still away off their best, and a classy century from Faf du Plessis, as well as 95 from Rassie van der Russen – who was out on the final ball of the innings – boosted South Africa to a formidable 325.
Mitchell Starc’s final spell with the ball got Australia back into the contest, however, they couldn’t capitalise on their reasonable finish with the ball, as a week off obviously messed with form.
Aaron Finch was gone in just the second over, before Usman Khawaja retired hurt with a hamstring complaint and Steve Smith was out LBW all within the opening ten overs.
David Warner was the rock of the Aussie innings, and while he appeared to find some support from Marcus Stoinis, it was slow support, and when Stoinis got himself out before Glenn Maxwell followed shortly afterwards to a good short ball from Kagiso Rabada, Australia looked to be right out of the match.
However, Warner joined with the in-form Alex Carey and the pair set about scoring the 207 runs still required from 25.5 overs.
(Photo by Henry Browne/Getty Images)
Warner would go past his century, eventually falling for 122 from 117 balls, while Carey would depart for 85 from 69 with the required run rate a smidge over ten.
Both Warner and Carey were outstanding with the stick as they tried to rescue Australia, however, just couldn’t take the game deep enough, and despite some big hitting late in the piece from Starc, Australia fell just ten runs short of topping the table.
It means they will now hit the road back to Edgbaston for a semi-final against the old enemy England, while India will arrive in Old Trafford tomorrow alongside New Zealand, with those two sides set to clash on Tuesday for the first spot in the final.
Australia have more than just form questions to answer heading into the semi-finals, with Usman Khawaja’s hamstring injury, a potential fitness issue to Mitchell Starc and likely side strain for Marcus Stoinis all putting questions over the squad, which has already lost Shaun Marsh to a broken arm during the week.
Australia’s semi-final against England will be played on Thursday, from 7:30pm (AEST).
Match summary
South Africa: 6/325 (50) (Faf du Plessis 100, Rassie van der Russen 95, Quinton de Kock 52, Nathan Lyon 2/53, Mitchell Starc 2/59) defeat Australia: 10/315 (49.5) (David Warner 122, Alex Carey 85, Kagiso Rabada 3/56) by 10 runs.
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Ben
Guest
Buttler is a good keeper, missed a couple of half, hard chances this world cup, so what. And statistics rarely tell the whole truth in terms of keepers catches. Carey has been flat out poor this world cup costing us the game. And Buttler is only one of the keepers i mentioned, all the others have been/are fantastic keeper batsman.
TheCunningLinguistic
Roar Rookie
Oh, I agree. I think we were talking about different scenarios, but what you say is correct. Wade as opener cover, Handscomb as cover for Khawaja (done deal now) and MM as cover for Stoinis- and by “cover for Stoinis”, I mean “should’ve been in his place from the word go”.
maccaa62
Roar Rookie
I’m not saying to change Carey or Cummings. !!
Rubbish Surf 69
Roar Rookie
Exactly, it is a semi final. It might be a bigger match, but surely finals are less likely to be branded "upsets" as clearly the top four teams are in there. NZ are ranked 4 in the world and India 2, while Pakistan are ranked 6 and England 1st and were clear early favourites for this tournament. Pakistan were absolutely smashed in their first game by the Windies and England pummelled South Africa in theirs. Then Pakistan put 300+ on England and won convincingly. So yes I stand by my words that even if NZ beat India I would still class the Pak-Eng match as a bigger upset.
pedrax
Roar Rookie
Maxwell is a match winner with the bat, not a match saver. He can be a match saver with the ball, avoiding blowouts. Next time Carey will come in ahead, and hopefully M Marsh, and hopefully no injuries to #3. Maxwell at 7 when batting first is well worth the risk.
pedrax
Roar Rookie
A Starc injury would be disastrous. The only positive is that we likely face a road, and on a road, K Richardson wouldn't be awful. Despite the poor bowling/good SAF batting, I think the Australian bowling and Finch's captaincy showed good flexibility. Could have easily been 350+ They did well to contain. Great to see Maxie and Lyon get good overs.
JamesH
Roar Guru
Yes, but it's a big if. We simply have to win the toss and bat first.
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
My point is that you're deciding to go from having a number 7 who averages 40 in ODIs (Carey) to having a number 7 who averages 10 in ODIs (Cummins).
dat
Roar Rookie
Correction, in the 5th odi with similar conditions being presented ,nz opted to bowl again but couldn’t chase down the score set by india. This is despite the fact the no:1 ranked odi batsman and bowler both giving those 2 matches a pass. I am sure when your team gets thumped as soon as the series began setting up excuses like ‘preparing special wickets’ might be essential, but stick to the facts would you? If you are considering practice games which most teams don’t even take that seriously and look towards setting up team combinations why not look at ct 2017 game between india and nz when nz got bowled out for 189 which also happened in England? If anything those results suggests if it swings whoever bowls first generally wins with only India’s 1 win going against the norm.
maccaa62
Roar Rookie
Wade as a batsman only. I wouldn’t get rid of Carey.
Scotty P
Roar Rookie
Not sure this has been mentioned but the weather forecast for Thursday and Friday (reserve day) is not great. Australia may make the final even without bowling a ball.
Derek Murray
Roar Rookie
Not fair to single out Starc. All three quicks served up total dross in the first 10. Variable lengths, hopeless line. There was barely a ball that the batsmen had to defend. At the ground I was head in hand. BTW, my feedback on the booing was that it wasn’t as widespread as it may have appeared on TV and became noisier as Saffa fans had more beer and found their voices as their team dominated. If we’re looking at small margins, Carey’s missed stumping really hurt. The batting to come was poor and the game may have turned on that miss. Also, Maxy bowled beautifully and deserved some reward.
Jeff
Roar Rookie
What happens if Smith or Warner roll their ankle 1 hour before play? Who is the opener? We can't take the risk of not having an opener back-up, hence Wade.
CubRoar
Roar Rookie
Aus vs NZ grand final. Mark my words. Unless I'm wrong.
Republican
Guest
.......those south sea poms will upset India but loose to the Sasenach in the final.....
Republican
Guest
.......we Ozzies have always suffered form an inflated sense of status. Australia won't get past England, not now given the disruptive casualties. Its a race between England, NZ & India while I am hoping the latter take the ultimate spoils......
anon
Roar Pro
They had pressure, but not the pressure that England faced where they were playing for their tournament life against the best side in the world.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
Hope you’re right, but I think statistically he’s getting closer to a moderate score, especially for someone having to strike at well over 100 every time.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
Was it a bad miss? TV highlights removed everything from the 13th to the 30th over!
James
Guest
Australia are the underdogs lol, like literally by definition they are the underdogs v england. Yes Australia beat England but if England play as well as they can they win easily, they could implode again like they did against Australia and Pakistan and Sri Lanka ofcourse but they could also play like they did v India and South Africa. There is just as much pressure on both teams, its England v Australia.