I understand that the Aussies just qualified for the semi-finals without actually completing a match.
:clap:
I understand that the Aussies just qualified for the semi-finals without actually completing a match.
:clap:
:clap: :clap: no they haven't :rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by World's End Stella
Ah yes, I stand corrected, there is no (Q) next to their name in the table.
I understand that the Aussies are currently in a qualification position for the semi-finals without actually completing a match.
:clap:
And if they lose their last match they are likely to be out :shrug: don't quite see your point (not for the first time)Quote:
Originally Posted by World's End Stella
Yes and the only way it can happen is if both final games are washed out. Positive result in the NZ Bangladesh game and Aussies can only go through with a winQuote:
Originally Posted by Pokster
That said, the Champions Trophy is a bit of a mickey mouse tournament.Quote:
Originally Posted by Luis Anaconda
Yeah, but we get the chance to knock the Aussies out, b - that would be funQuote:
Originally Posted by Burney
Quite. Which is really the point. From the Times:Quote:
Originally Posted by Burney
The Champions Trophy was plunged into farce last night as rain forced the match between Australia and Bangladesh to be abandoned.
This was the third match of the tournament to be affected by rain and the second to be abandoned without a result. Both of these meteorologically induced stalemates have involved Australia, who are now in serious danger of being eliminated from a major global sporting event because of inclement weather.
Once again, cricket’s ability to shoot itself in the foot with frustrating regulations in adverse conditions reared its head on the sort of stage where the sport ought to be parading its virtues to the world, not its bewildering illogicalities.
Australia had skittled Bangladesh for 182 and were on 83-1 after 16 overs when rain intervened and forced play to be stopped. They were cruising to an inevitable victory — in fact, so far ahead were they that they had already comfortably surmounted the Duckworth-Lewis par score for 20 overs, the minimum number required for a result. Had four more overs been possible, Australia could have played out four maidens, lost two wickets and still won.
When the skies cleared at 7.30pm and a pitch inspection at 8.00pm found the ground to be playable, the opportunity was there. But a restart was scheduled for 8.30pm and in the intervening minutes, the rain returned.
“It was a little bit frustrating not to get a result in,” a peeved Australia captain Steve Smith said. “The groundsmen perhaps could have shown a bit more urgency, with it being a big tournament.”
You could also point to the fact that, with skies glowering menacingly and Australia having batted 16 overs — and so desperate to reach a conclusion that Smith was deliberately blocking deliveries back to the bowler to hurry the game along — the players were made to pause for a mandated drinks break. It was during this brief interval that the rain was deemed too heavy to continue and play was stopped.
Warner hit 40 off 44 balls before the weather intervened
Jordan Mansfield/Getty Images
“I was happy to keep batting through the rain,” Smith said. “Drinks at the end of that over didn’t help. If the game had just carried on perhaps [the umpires] would have had a different opinion.”
Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza admitted his side had got away with one. “Australia were unlucky, while on the other hand, we are lucky to stay alive in the tournament,” he said.
Before the clouds intervened, this was a straightforward one-sided hammering. Australia bowled with fiery pace at both ends of the innings and strangulating control in the middle overs to dismantle a batting line-up that had racked up 305 against England in the tournament curtain-raiser for a much more paltry total.
Mitchell Starc took four wickets in the space of nine fast, vicious, spearing deliveries, but in truth that was just the cherry on top of an accomplished all-round bowling performance. Five Australians chipped in with wickets, seven Bangladesh batsmen were dismissed in single figures.
Josh Hazlewood induced a leaden-footed prod from the oddly muted Soumya Sarkar, Imrul Kayes plopped a Pat Cummins delivery to point, and Moises Henriques removed Mushfiqur Rahim, who made 79 against England, leg-before, with the batsman inexplicably opting not to review despite replays suggesting a clear inside edge.
The wet weather fails to take the smile of the face of Mustafizur, the Bangladesh bowler
Peter Cziborra/Reuters
Then the spinners took over. Travis Head trapped Shakib al-Hasan in front, before Adam Zampa claimed two wickets in two overs, with Sabbir Rahman drilling a catch to Smith at extra cover and Mahmudullah chopping on to his stumps.
At the other end mournfully watching this sorry subsidence was Tamim Iqbal, Bangladesh’s talismanic opener. He played with an uncharacteristic sense of responsibility, peppered with three trademark sixes, but found nobody to hang around and develop a partnership with him.
Eventually, five runs short of a second consecutive century and with all the other recognised batsmen dismissed, he fell top-edging Starc. The left-arm quick soon mopped up the tail.
In reply, Australia batted with assurance. David Warner, unbeaten on 40, became the third-fastest one-day international batsman to reach 4,000 runs, and Smith was 22 not out. Aaron Finch, trapped leg-before for 19 by Rubel Hossain for his eighth score of less than 20 in his past nine ODI innings, was the only wicket to fall.
That was all moot though as the weather intruded with the game just minutes from a conclusion — and with severe consequences for Australia.
Smith’s side will now almost certainly have to beat England at Edgbaston on Saturday, barring a highly improbable scenario involving a third consecutive no-result and various other outcomes. Through no fault of their own, they have stumbled into a perilous position where they cannot afford a slip-up against the tournament favourites.
“We can probably perform at our best when we know it’s a knockout situation,” Starc said. “I reckon it brings the best out in a lot of our players.”
That will be Australia’s only concern for now. Beyond that, this little tournament, this concentrated dose of world-class cricket, is in danger of being diluted beyond all recognition by the vicissitudes of the British summer. With no reserve days scheduled for the group stage or semi-finals, it is all the cricket administrators can do to offer up prayers to the weather gods. Yesterday, those of the Australia team went unanswered.