Australia's T20 World Cup title defence all but over despite edging out Afghanistan after Starc's surprise axing

Australia’s T20 World Cup defence is all over bar the shouting, which is likely to come on Saturday night when England celebrate clinching a semi-final berth ahead of their old enemy.

They squeaked out a four-run victory over winless Afghanistan on Friday night at Adelaide Oval but it was not even close to enough to bridge the net run rate gap on England and their only chance of sneaking into the semis is for Jos Buttler’s team to suffer an upset loss to Sri Lanka in Sydney or for the match to be washed out.

There is a 10 per cent chance of rain in the Harbour City, according to the weather bureau, and Australia’s hopes of advancing from the Super 12 stage are about the same.

New Zealand sealed top spot in their group ahead of Australia and England by virtue of their 35-run victory over Ireland earlier in the afternoon in the South Australian capital.

The last mathematical chance of the Black Caps failing to qualify disappeared when the Aussies reached 8/168 off their 20 overs, some way short of the runs they needed to overtake their trans-Tasman rivals even if they had bowled Afghanistan out for 0.

Australia then needed to restrict the Afghans to 106 or fewer to move ahead of England on net run rate, but failed to do so.

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Australian captain Aaron Finch and Tim David were ruled out of the hosts’ final group stage match due to hamstring strains with wicketkeeper Matthew Wade filling in as skipper, but the big talking point was the decision to drop pace spearhead Mitchell Starc.

(Photo by Sarah Reed/Getty Images)

Finch may have played his last match for Australia after retiring from the ODI side recently. He is expected to retire from T20 internationals after this tournament after a lengthy stretch of underwhelming form.

“We’ve obviously put ourselves in this situation but hopefully Sri Lanka can do the job for us,” player of the match Glenn Maxwell said.

“We didn’t really talk about it [keeping Afghanistan to 106 or fewer]… we just tried to stick to our game plan as much as we possibly could.

“We thought if we bowled well enough and created chances by building pressure… hopefully our experience prevails and our skill execution can be good enough.”

The two new batters, Cameron Green and Steve Smith, fell cheaply but Australia posted 8-168 with Maxwell (54 not out from 32 balls) top-scoring and Mitchell Marsh chipping in with 45.

Starc’s demotion, replaced by South Australian veteran Kane Richardson, had former players bemused in commentary.

Former Australian skipper Michael Clarke thought Starc’s ability to swing the new ball should have meant he kept his spot despite modest recent form.

Cameron Green spills a catch in the outfield against Afghanistan. (Photo by Mark Brake-ICC/ICC via Getty Images)

“If anyone’s going to rip through Afghanistan’s batting, it’s Mitchell Starc,” former captain Clarke said in commentary. “I don’t get it.”

Mark Waugh tweeted: “Starc should be playing. He is a aggressive wicket taking bowler who could easily rip through Afghanistan. Richardson more of a holding type bowler.”

His former teammate Tom Moody mused that Starc must have missed the team bus to be relegated.

Australia’s innings got off to a flyer despite the early loss of Green for three before David Warner (25 from 18 balls) was out in comical fashion after he had hit five boundaries. He tried a switch hit but was bowled after making a straightforward delivery very complicated.

Smith (four) wasted a review after being trapped LBW before Marsh, who cleared the rope twice in his 30-ball knock, Marcus Stoinis (25 from 21) and Maxwell restored order.

They needed to roll the Afghans for 106 runs or less to leapfrog England on net run rate but opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz (30 off 17), Ibrahim Zadrin (26 from 33) and Gulbadin Naib (39 off 23) took them to 2-99 before three wickets fell in the space of four balls in an Adam Zampa over to ensure Australia would win even if though they would not be able to dismiss their opponents quickly enough.

Green botched an outfield catch off Gurbaz but was a very relieved all-rounder when Richardson claimed his wicket a couple of deliveries later.

Despite the visitors losing 4-4 to give Australia a slight chance to wrap up the innings before their net run rate target score, the Afghan tail wagged with “hometown hero”, Adelaide Strikers fan favourite Rashid Khan, connecting with a few long bombs in his 48 off 23 cameo to make the final margin a little too close for comfort.

The little leg-spinner struck some extraordinary blows off Josh Hazlewood and Stoinis and was unlucky not to bring up a half-century as he nearly chased down the 22 required off the final over.

Australia’s 89-run thumping at the hands of New Zealand in the Super 12 opening match at the SCG put the defending champions on the back foot early in their campaign and they missed the opportunity to get in front of England on the standings when their match last week at the MCG was abandoned without a ball being bowled.