After yesterday’s thriller against the West Indies, the big question is that what on earth would it take for the Australian side to win this particular ICC trophy? which essentially is the only ICC trophy that they haven’t been able to lay hands upon. Last night’s loss to the Windies means it is going to be very unlikely for them to turn the odds even time around.
Now let me put things into perspective and take a step or two back to reflect upon their overall preparation for this particular edition. Ask anyone, and i feel the same, that when the tournament started, they looked one of the strongest sides on paper, probably alongside India and Sri Lanka. They looked like winning it or at least advancing to the knock out stages of the tournament.
They were coming from a mix of good well fought and comprehensive wins, some of their players were in tremendous form, they still are, and the ability of their strikers looked unmatched. I mean how good is this for your top 5: Warner, Watson, Finch, Maxwell and Bailey, and then Faulkner, Haddin in the lower middle order. Crazy isn’t it. Seems they’ll just murder any opposition. And not that they haven’t.
In both their games till now, they have batted well with some folks doing extraordinarily well. What would you call Maxwell’s innings against Pakistan? I call it carnage. But you can choose your synonyms.
However, somehow they haven’t been able to cross the line on both the occasions. Against Pakistan, they’d hit Umar Akmal playing best innings of his life, and later Pakistan holding their nerve after the Maxwell onslaught, with Umar Gul also getting into some sort of rhythm. And against the West Indies, the free flowing Gayle upfront and in the death overs the typical West Indian muscle power of Bravo and the skipper Darren Sammy. Ah! When a batsman is in that kind of mood, you can just sit back and admire. Cant do much about it Aussies!
Although mathematical combinations and all those net run rate sciences still tells you that they still aren’t completely out of it, but it’s very less likely that all that maths and science would work in their favour the way they’d like. Let’s wait n watch.
Because otherwise, well, better luck next time!
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