cricket news: Australia v Pakistan Review

ADMIN · March 20, 2015

Pakistan were outclassed with both bat and ball by Australia at the Adelaide Oval in their World Cup Quarter Final. Their batsmen felt pressured into several high risk strokes just to keep the scoring rate between four and five runs per over. A couple of the early batsmen were out caught in the slip cordon playing away from the body without moving their feet. Haris Sohail fell to Mitchell Johnson's two-card trick after being well set. Johnson came around the wicket to Sohail and tested him with the short ball. He then followed this up with the full-wide 'sucker' ball which Sohail chased without too much footwork and was caught at the wicket.

When Australia batted, apart from a brief battle between Wahab Riaz and Shane Watson, the Aussies looked untroubled. Their ability to score easily against medium-fast bowling came to the fore. Riaz can bowl seriously fast and let rip. He troubled Shane Watson and Glenn Maxwell. He also dismissed Michael Clarke. Clarke is different class of player compared to Watson or Maxwell, and he got behind a quick, short one aimed into his ribs by Riaz and tried to play it down quietly. The extra pace meant that he mistimed his defensive stroke and the ball popped up to the well set forward short leg. Australia were 59/3 and Pakistan must have felt they had a chance.

Wahab Riaz followed up his wicket with a sizzling spell. He attacked Shane Watson with some ferocious short pitched bowling. Riaz was hostile throughout and on another day, Watson might have been out more than a couple of times. More than once, Watson turned his back on a short ball and fended at it. He was also dropped at fine leg when he top edged a hook shot.

Watson's limited defensive technique against the short ball and Riaz's inability to find a testing fuller length to give Watson more to think about meant that as a cricketing battle, it was a limited, if spectacular one. Such battles are known to occur in the game, especially when the bowler is quick or turns the ball hard. But usually, these battles occur between the best batsman on the day and the best bowler on the day. When Allan Donald and Michael Atherton had their great battles in the 1990s, Donald bested other England batsmen regularly.

During this battle between Wahab Riaz and Shane Watson, Riaz also bowled 11 balls at Steven Smith, Australia's number 3. Do you remember a single delivery in this contest? Smith quietly took 7 singles in 11 balls from Riaz. Australia's best batsman diffused the contest with Pakistan's fastest bowler quite easily.

The support for Riaz was less than stellar. Consider the fast bowlers Pakistan could have had in this XI. Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Amir, Junaid Khan and Mohammad Irfan. It would be a mistake to think that these bowlers would have been unplayable, but they would have challenged Australia's batting in ways that Ehsan Adil, Rahat Ali and Sohail Khan didn't. Pakistan didn't help themselves by not picking the leg-spinner Yasir Shah. Shah has had a brilliant beginning to his Test career. His first five Tests against Australia and New Zealand have brought him 27 wickets. He might have provided another line of attack today.

Pakistan have made a number of perplexing selection decisions in this World Cup. Games against India seem to destabilize their team tremendously, whether they lose or not. If they win, then players who perform well appear to get a leg up selection wise, no matter how limited these players might be. If they lose, then there seems to always be at least one player who gets dropped. Losing to India on February 15 torpedoed the World Cup prospects of Yasir Shah and Younis Khan. It has been argued the Younis Khan is not a great limited overs batsman. This is perhaps true. And if Pakistan had well prepared, polished talent of the quality of say Ajinkya Rahane or Steven Smith, a case could be made to leave Younis Khan out. But Pakistan don't.

When batting first, Pakistan have not defeated Australia in an ODI game since 2002. The few wins they've had recently have all come chasing totals. This made it all the more surprising that Pakistan decided to bat first and give Australia the opportunity to bat under lights.

Shane Watson is not a specialist batsman for Australia. If he wasn't bowling, Australia would probably play George Bailey in his place. Along with James Faulkner and Glenn Maxwell, Watson forms Australia's corps of all-rounders who give their batting and bowling substantial depth without being anywhere near world class in any one discipline. Watson's approach in this innings was exemplary. He didn't try anything too ambitious. He played within his limitations. He played the situation beautifully. Better bowling capable of many more lines of attack than Pakistan's might have tested Australia today.

South Africa, and to a lesser extent New Zealand have the class in their bowling attacks to challenge the Aussies. They have the attack to test not just Watson, but even Steven Smith. Australia's bowling looks cobbled together. Josh Hazlewood is accurate and Mitchell Johnson and Mitchell Starc are seriously quick and expert limited overs bowlers, but there isn't much to follow. Against better line ups Australia will miss an attacking spinner. They're not going to get wickets off bad balls every day, even against Pakistan.

But first, Australia will have to face India. The general consensus seems to be that India have had a terrible time in Australia. I think this overstates India's troubles a little once you accept that India never had the bowling to win a Test. That they lost 2 out of 4 is a tribute to the resilience of their batting. Compared to Pakistan, India currently have far fewer holes in their team. On paper, Australia will start as favorites, albeit not overwhelmingly so. But they will have to play well to beat India. India's batting boasts of a number of young players who are yet to hit their peak, who have played a large number of games. If batsmen peak at 30, then Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan are all at least a couple of years away. They have scored a lot of runs, but they still appear brittle from time to time.

If New Zealand makes the last four, then the 4 best teams will have made it to the last 4 of the 2015 World Cup. It will make for 3 exquisite games to determine the ultimate winner.

Beehive from ESPNCricinfo's record of Wahab Riaz's spell against Shane Watson. Note the predominantly short length. Riaz was quick, hostile and aimed exclusively for 1 mode of dismissal - caught