Today saw three-time world champions Australia, take on one of the more stronger sides of the underdogs, Zimbabwe.
Australia seemed to be in a spot of trouble after the mandatory powerplay. With a run rate of just 2.8 per over, things did not look promising. Not only that, but Australia managed to make the second lowest total in the mandatory power play of the cup, coming just above Canada, and below Kenya. Okay, fair play, there had only been three matches prior to this one, but still. The fact that half the teams playing in the previous three matches were minnows, does highlight the fact that this was not the hard-hitting, ball smashing, wicket-breaking Australian team that everyone had come to aspire to and envy. There was just an element of spark missing from the team today, and I for one found the match incredibly dry to watch for that reason.
If we were to look at the Australian innings, there was a poor use of the powerplays all round, by both the fielding and the batting side. I was expecting with an opener like Watson for there to be lofted shots left, right and center, and at least a score of about 50 from the first ten overs, but it seemed the Zimbabwean bowlers had a different agenda on their mind. There is no denying the fact that the Zimbabwean bowling attack definitely kept Australia tight. A mix of clever bowling, and well-informed referrals gave the Zimbabweans the key wickets they needed, first that of Brad Haddin, who was out on an LBW by Utesya, and then that of the all-round danger-man Shane Watson who was out on an LBW by Cremer. The Zimbabweans really impressed me however with their run-out of Ricky Ponting. At first I refused to believe that he had been run-out, but when I saw the quick work of the fielders working together to stump Ponting, I was well and truly impressed.
Batting at number 4 was my personal favourite, Michael Clarke, who played a superb innings, especially after a middle order "mini-collapse" from the Aussies. Shane Watson received a lot of hype (and indeed man of the match) for his 79 runs, and so he should, because that is an incredibly respectful score, however, I feel that Michael Clarke should have been awarded man of the match due to his utilisation of the balls in which he made his runs. He got the runs on the board fairly quickly, whilst rotating the strike and maintaining a level of consistency in the middle order. Clarke may have made 58, but perhaps what some people are forgetting is that he did so in 55 deliveries, and he remained not out. Watson took nearly 100 balls to make his 79 runs.
One thing that I have to mention is the wicket of David Hussey. I was talking to Osiris at the same time as watching the match, and as Price came on to bowl, I said to Osiris "I have a feeling that Hussey will be bowled in a minute" and literally five seconds later....BOOM! Hussey's clean bowled and I'm being worshipped as a cricket medium (ok, so the second thing didn't happen, but Osiris couldn't get over it!)
Not much can be said about the Zimbabwean innings, apart from the fact that they did manage to stretch it to a decent total of 171, so credit to them for doing that. In all honesty, I was expecting the likes of Brett Lee, Shaun Tait, Mitchell Johnson and Shane Watson to rip their batting apart quite early on, but obviously not. Another thing which stumped me was that there was no sense of happiness or celebration when a Zimbabwean wicket had fallen. Come on, you may be playing an underdog side, but at least show some spirit guys! It really made the match dull and dry, and a lot less enjoyable. Even Sri Lanka were more jubilant when they got Canadian wickets yesterday! Perhaps the lack of atmosphere could also be attributed to fact that the stadium was barely even half-full.
All in all, it was a one sided game, but the Zimbabweans did cause a stir by keeping the Australians at such a low score in the opening overs.
That's all from me. Join us tomorrow for England vs. Netherlands which is bound to be a thriller, reported by our very own Osiris!
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