The focus was on some ageing superstars of the West Indies. Dwayne Bravo announced that Saturday’s ICC Men’s Twenty20 World Cup match against Australia would be his farewell international game. Chris Gayle and Kieron Pollard could have played their last matches in multilateral events. But Australia did well to pursue their goal with a single-minded approach.
As they won with eight wickets and 22 deliveries to spare, the other teams will have noticed that cohesion has returned to Australia’s campaign as has their desire to be the world beating Twenty20 side ahead of even England. It is imperceptible but Australia are adding some humility and willingness to learn lessons to their repertoire that makes them a dangerous outfit.
Both against a listless Bangladesh on Thursday and a more determined West Indies on Saturday, Australia looked reinvigorated after the eminently forgettable loss to England. It was not the eight-wicket margin that hurt Australia but the fact that England cruised home with 50 deliveries to spare that hurt the pride of Aaron Finch and his men. But they bounced back well.
One of the reasons for the higher level of energy is the return to Mitchell Marsh as the primary all-rounder. His fast-medium bowling was preferred to Ashton Agar’s left-arm spin that Australia tried in one critical match. That decision upset the make-up of the batting unit in the big game against England. And Australia quickly made course-correction.
Australia needed to take charge of what was in their control and work relentlessly towards retaining that control. Yet, awareness alone never helps. The mental stamina to resist pointless sideshows that could distract was of paramount importance. And the discipline Marsh showed was reflective of the intent the side from Down Under had during their final league game.
On a day when Josh Hazelwood picked up four wickets with his relentless accuracy and David Warner walloped his second half-century in the tournament, Marsh did enough with an efficient all-round performance to reiterate his value. He went about the task with the minimum of fuss, typical of the Australian approach after England brought it down to the ground.
One of the reasons for the higher level of energy is the return to Mitchell Marsh as the primary all-rounder. AP
After the West Indies was asked to bat first by skipper Aaron Finch, Marsh was the only fast-medium bowler who did not claim a wicket but his role in keeping the Caribbean batsmen quiet cannot be undermined at all. He conceded but one boundary in his three overs during which he varied length and pace to tie the West Indian stroke-makers down.
Used with off-spinner Glenn Maxwell to complete the fifth bowler’s quota, Marsh ensured that the West Indies would not find it easy to score off his three overs. Shimron Hetmyer was the only batsman who picked up a boundary hit off Marsh’s bowling. With figures of none for 16, he contributed to Australia’s bid to keep the target down to manageable proportions.
It would have been easy for Warner and Marsh to be distracted by the ease with which they could produce their shots against an attack that held no terrors for them. Instead, they retained their focus and went about the task with utmost professionalism, not for once losing sight of the larger goal of raising the team’s net run rate higher than at the start of the match.
With so much banter on the field, perhaps sparked by Dwayne Bravo’s decision to retire from international cricket and by Chris Gayle’s impending exit from the global stage, either of them could have lost his wicket without drawing criticism. The West Indies bowling did not pose them such a challenge as the light-hearted approach that surfaced as they got closer to the target.
After all, Australia needed some insurance against a possible England defeat by South Africa in the last Group 1 match. And the Warner-Marsh partnership showed a keen awareness of the demand on their shoulders during the chase of the 158-run target against the West Indies. The big shots that Marsh played justified the faith placed on him to keep the scorer really busy.
He dismissed the leg-spin threat posed by Hayden Walsh Jr. with an audacious reverse sweep to win the mental edge. And a six down the ground dispelled any aspirations left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein would have nursed of halting Australia’s march to a fine win. It was not until two runs were needed for the victory that Marsh suffered a concentration lapse.
The dominating win set the stage for Australia to virtually ensure itself a place in the last four stage. That was confirmed a few hours later despite South Africa forcing a triple tie at the top of the group. Australia could begin training their collective mind towards the task of getting the better of Pakistan in that semi-final.
G Rajaraman is a sports journalist with 38 years standing and prides himself as a student of sport.