Al-anwar Newspaper English news in Australia
Australia has been challenged to unleash its inner beast if it is to defend the T20 World Cup.
This was the message force-fed to the host nation by old rivals England (6-179) who roared to life to stay in semi-final contention by beating New Zealand in a tense, high quality shootout at the Gabba.
England’s 20 run win improved their net run rate to .547. Australia (-.304) lag behind them with one match against Afghanistan to play.
England and Australia are likely to finish on seven points which means net run rate would split them.
This has put the pressure on Australia to not simply win but win well.
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England are not only ahead on run rate but they play Sri Lanka after Australia plays Afghanistan – who could be without the world’s No 1 T20 bowler Rashid Khan – so they will know precisely what figure they will need to make the finals.
Australia face the prospect of beating Afghanistan by 50-60 runs and hoping Sri Lanka push England all the way. Otherwise Australia will regret letting Ireland wriggle off the hook at the Gabba on Monday when they were 5-25 before surging to 137.
The vocal Brisbane crowd of 22,547 knew a Kiwi win would have been Australia’s best result and rallied behind them but England were too strong.
New Zealand (6-159) were right in the game but the match turned in the 16th over when Mark Wood conceded just three runs and took a wicket. England’s bowlers held their collective nerve most impressively.
What essentially has become a game of cricket chess took another twist with the Kiwis loss likely to mean that they will also finish equal with Australia and England if they win their last But the Kiwis have an imposing run rate which should see them through. Afghanistan were eliminated from the tournament in the early game at the Gabba when they lost to Sri Lanka.
