Australia’s otherwise impressive group stage came to a very disappointing end over the weekend, with a ten-run loss to South Africa bumping the Aussies down to second.
An early-order collapse had the run chase doomed from the start, with David Warner’s 122 and Alex Carey’s 85 not enough to run down South Africa’s 325.
That means that, instead of a nice-looking fixture against New Zealand at Old Trafford, Australia must knock off England at fortress Edgbaston if they want to make it through to the final.
Was the Proteas loss just a blip on the radar? A necessary reality check ahead of the knockout stages?
Or has it cost Australia a chance at lifting the World Cup trophy this year?
We were joined on the Game of Codes podcast by Roar cricket expert Glenn Mitchell to analyse the true cost of the upset loss.
Listen to the discussion:
That wasn’t the only Australian topic we discussed on this episode of Game of Codes, with the interesting selection quandary of Peter Handscomb or Matthew Wade to replace the injured Usman Khawaja also getting a run.
Visit our Game of Codes hub to catch the full episode and be sure to subscribe and review on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or wherever else you’re listening.
maccaa62
Roar Rookie
Yes but Australia need to go harder in the first 10 overs and get to 60 or 70 with the field up. I don’t know why a lot of teams have abandoned this approach, maybe the bowling is too good or the pitch doesn’t suit but risks need to be taken early rather than later to put pressure on the fielding side exactly what NZ didn’t do last night. That way you can knock it around for a run a ball for 30 overs and then hopefully use all their batsman to tee off in the last 10.
Mark Soong
Roar Rookie
It may not be after all. If Australia has the mind set to win the World Cup for the 6th time, why would you want to avoid England in the semi-finals. By topping the group and set up a semi-finals with New Zealand, we are not giving NZ the respect that it earned. Based on your analysis, Australia can only go to the finals and be runner up should they meet England in the finals. This is not the mind set of the Australia team to begin with. Anyway to put this in context, Australia lost by only 10 runs, and they have put in the hard chase for the 2 games they lost. So the good omen ahead of the semi-finals should Australia need to chase to win, third time lucky.