World Cup 2019, Semi-Finals: New Zealand break Indian hearts, England destroy Australia

 

World Cup 2019

Semi-Finals: New Zealand break Indian hearts, England destroy Australia

July 11^th 2019

 

The two loudest and brashest fan-bases in cricket were clear: India would play Australia in the Final at Lord’s on Sunday; no other result was even conceivable. After all, New Zealand had lost their last three matches and Australia had hammered England in the Group stage. It was the natural order. England were bottlers, who are utterly over-rated and New Zealand were lucky even to make the Semi-Final ahead of Pakistan.

No one was quite prepared for the reality. After all, when New Zealand stuttered to 239-8, the Indian fans were licking their lips at the impending rout. India though seemed to have their hearts and minds at Edgbaston, where they had fully expected to be playing the hosts. They did not seem attuned to murky Manchester, where the persistent rain had forced the game into a reserve day. After just nineteen balls the Indian reply was in ruins at 5-3, with the top three all out for a single. Dinesh Karthik followed soon after and India were facing total humiliation. Worse, they were desperately behind the run-rate and needing to re-build before they could even think about scoring quickly. India though, are India. All those embarrassing tribulations of the early editions of the World Cup, in which India only turned-up to make up the numbers, have been long forgotten and India sees reaching the World Cup Final as nothing more and nothing less than their birth-right. You never write-off an Indian team, even an Indian team at 92-6, with the Required Run Rate up to 7.7 and rising fast. And so it proved. The finish got unbearably tense.

That New Zealand’s attack had anything to defend at all was down to a doughty, if dour partnership between Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor. It was not pretty – the run-rate did not reach 4 until the 42^nd over, but it was effective and there were wickets in hand to have a final slog, although the spoilsport Manchester weather meant that the last 23 balls had to wait until the second morning: 28 scored from them.

It did not look like enough, but New Zealand at least had something to bowl at. However, for India, the tactic was clear: bat out the first ten overs without losing a wicket and don’t worry about the runs. If it was 25-0 from 10, fine. If it was 35-0 from 10, game over. 24-4 from 10? Jon McEnroe in his prime would have screamed “you cannot be serious!”

Ten overs, sixty balls left. Ninety needed, but Dhoni and Jadeja building a partnership.

Leather starts to fly. Two overs. Eighteen runs. 72 needed from 48. Jadeja past his 50 and Dhoni acting as sheet anchor. Advantage India, surely?

42 wanted from 24 balls. 37 from 18. Surely Jadeja and Dhoni would produce a final sprint and ease India home. Tight it would be, but two or three big blows would settle it. What no one expected was for the last four wickets to go down in eleven balls. New Zealand had won by 18 runs and the Indians were left wondering how, after looking by far the best team in the tournament for so long, they had lost two of their last three matches and were going home early.

On current form, you would, most certainly not have bet on New Zealand to win. Having just and only just squeaked past the West Indies, New Zealand had lost another close finish to Pakistan and then been hammered both by Australia and England. They appeared to have run out of form at the wrong moment but, now, they were into the Final, thanks to holding their nerve at the critical moment.

And so to Edgbaston, where Australia do not exactly have a good record. In fact, they have not won there since 1993. However, they had never, before today, lost a World Cup Semi-Final and England had not won a World Cup knock-out match since 1992.

The mantra of this World Cup has been “bat first and beat England”. Australia won the Toss and decided to bat. Game over?

Chris Woakes ran in. Juicy half volley. And hammered to the boundary. “Richard in London” launched himself to fame as a pundit on the BBC by declaring, after one ball, the England had bottled the match. One ball into the seventh over, Australia were 15-3 and bottler Woakes had 2-10. By then people were getting concerned for the health of “Richard in London”. No much more than an hour later, Smith and Carey had a century partnership and, if England were not on the ropes, the initiative was slipping away fast, while the instant punditry was starting, once more, to look at least a defensible position. Adil Rashid was bowling and Australia were tucking in. However, Adil Rashid’s great strength has been that he has not been afraid to give away cheap runs if he can get the batsmen to take dangerous liberties. After four overs of punishment, his fifth produced two dots, two singles and, more critically, two wickets. Back came Jofra Archer. Back went Glenn Maxwell. And then, supposedly Unthreatening Adil, added a third wicket. It was not disarray, but nor were Australia anywhere near a competitive total. Woakes and Wood finished off the tail and Australia had not even batted-out their overs.

If you wanted to know how big a deal this was, the ball from Jofra Archer that knocked-off Lukas Carey’s helmet even made it onto the Spanish evening news, just after the images of people running the bulls in Pamplona. There is more than a hint of 2005 in England’s bullying of the opposition and Joffra Archer has laid down the same sort of marker that Steve Harmison laid down in 2005 with that brutal ball at the start of the series.

The Australian fans were confident that 223 would be enough. The script called for England to slump to 13-5 in reply. Bairstow and Roy had other ideas. 10 overs: 50-0. 20 overs: 147-2. Even with generous help from the umpire in Roy’s wicket (that does not excuse dissent), Australia were taking a terrible beating.

England won with 107 balls to spare. And, if you want a hint of how big a win this was, just ponder that, if you double England’s score at 30 overs, you get 420 as a projected 50-over total.

And so to Lord’s. Whatever happens, there will be a new name on the World Cup. Both England and New Zealand have reached the Semi-Finals. England have played in the Final, three times, but have never won. New Zealand were losing finalists last time out.

New Zealand’s batting has not really fired: just once have they reached 250 in the tournament. England have passed 300, six times but, when England’s batting has failed, it has failed big time. The New Zealand bowlers are canny, but their batting depends too much on Kane Williamson. Both sides can be vulnerable. And both can be tough to beat. Which will handle the pressure best?