Tag:

One Day Internationals

Other Sports

The Aussies were outstanding while Team India’s unbeaten run has come to an end as Travis Head’s top knock of 137 has sealed Australia a 6th Cricket World Cup trophy

by Sports Benches

So there you have it! The Aussies have lifted the Cricket World Cup trophy for the sixth time now after their six wicket win v the Hosts Team India a few hours ago at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

They won the toss with little surprise by going to bowl/field first and it actually paid off really well, having got both key men in Virat Kohli & KL Rahul not long after their respective 50s before Australia bowled India all out for 240 right at the end of the opposition’s 50-over batting shift. Then all the Aussies have to do is meet the 241 run target later on with the bat and the tournament will be theirs where they didn’t fire off well thanks to the early dismissals of Dave Warner, Mitchell Marsh & Steve Smith. But there’s one man who made Australia’s resurgent turnaround end India’s unbeaten streak is the other opener Travis Head, who scored an almighty 137, as Australia take home both the win by six wickets along with that prestigious trophy.

Commiserations to Team India who wanted to cap off their unbeaten campaign on a perfect sweep until this point, which was ruined by the Aussies on their home turf in front of a very huge crowd. India hoped they can score something big after their semi-final win v New Zealand where some good Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli & KL Rahul weren’t bad before things went downhill unexpectedly to 240 thanks to an brilliant Australian on-field display.

The same has been said later on when Mohammed Shami saw Dave Warner knock to Kohli that early while Jasprit Bumrah also quickly dismissed both M. Marsh & Steve Smith, but unfortunately couldn’t find a way to stop Head in its tracks where the fan noise volume went pretty quiet for the rest of the night due to his stunning knock off the willow. India might still be one of the top opponents to face regularly, but winning World Cups isn’t their trophy hunting ground having won twice back in 1983 & 2011.

And the now six-time World Champions Australian side showed what they can go to bounce back from 0-2 at the start to being triumphant at the final with the trophy. First of all, their fielding has been top-notch where they stopped some potential boundaries while producing stunning catches along the way that gave the bowlers some credit. Great seeing the Fast Bowling group pick up most of the wickets such as Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins & Josh Hazlewood that limited India’s ability to score big in the final.

Then with the bat, we all know Dave Warner will no longer be playing International Cricket soon while questions will be raised about Steve Smith in particular, who hasn’t been in great form lately, despite rejecting the chance to appeal his LBW dismissal which went outside the line. But as said, how good was Travis Head where he has silenced the crowd with some amazing cricket shots downtown alongside some amazing back up at the other end from Marnus Labuschagne. Now Marnus is more Test focused but he can still make a decent impact when he can possible. And although we would’ve loved to see Head finish off the winning runs when he couldn’t find the rope straight to Shubman Gill, but still it was an amazing final where Glenn Maxwell came in next up to hit two runs that steered the Aussies home first towards their record 6th world crown!!

Bring on Test Cricket now as the Home summer is coming back soon for another season sometime next month where there will be three Tests v Pakistan through Christmas/New Year + another two-match series v West Indies in January.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Other Sports

The Aussies hold on tight v South Africa by three wickets thanks to Pat Cummins & Mitchell Starc as they’re in the 2023 Cricket World Cup Final against India this Sunday

by Sports Benches

It was a close one but the Aussies are through to the Cricket World Cup final now following their three wicket win last night v South Africa. They might have lost the toss where Australia were asked to bowl/field first, having fired off with four early wickets. Then the David Miller show has turned things around for South Africa off the back of his hundred before Australia bowled all out for 212, which sets up a 213 run chase to win. Now the strong starts are there as seen with Opener Travis Head’s quickfire 48 ball-62 before Australia were in real trouble by a thread as the game goes on. However, they never gave up by keeping it simple & that was enough to see them leapfrog South Africa at the finish line when Captain Pat Cummins provided them the winning runs like he did in the 1st Ashes Test v England at Edgbaston earlier in June this year. Now they will be up against the host nation Indian side at Narendra Modi Stadium this Sunday in Ahmedabad, who still has been unstoppable all along so far including their 70 run win the other day (Wednesday) during semi-final 1 v New Zealand. It’s going be one hell of a game to finish off the 2023 Cricket World Cup as it’s better for the Aussies to win the toss by batting first or they will have a hard time against the Indian batters who will score big before being able to win another World Championship on home soil since 2011 when India were the previous World Cup hosts alongside Sri Lanka & Bangladesh.

Unlucky from South Africa when their Opening and top order batting attack didn’t work well as expected with the exception both middle-order batters in Heinrich Klassen & David Miller. Yes, the bowling wasn’t bad with Gerald Coetzee & Tabraiz Shamsi on fire but then just not enough to stop the Aussies under pressure, especially when it’s a low scoring game. If their Top 4 batters did so well, then the final could’ve been easily been theirs as SA is one of the few teams who have still yet to play in a CWC final. Meanwhile, it’s the eighth time now that the Aussies are in the main event since its inception in 1979. Hats off to Captain Cummins and Mitchell Starc who can both do a bit of everything where they were not just good off their fast bowling but also with the bat as well. Plus, Travis Head has been amazing since his recent return from injury where he will try to stay there as long as he can with the hope of a big hundred looming v a top Indian team. Now it’s up to the rest of the XI to stop this unbeatable opposition at their own backyard. Let’s hope so as they’re still the most successful team in the history of the Cricket World Cup with five trophies before hoping to finish off this weekend with title No.6, having last won back in 2015. 

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Other Sports

The hosts India stay on stop towards Sunday’s Cricket World Cup final since 2011 after they def. New Zealand in the first semi-final match

by Sports Benches

The host nation India has stayed undefeated yet again this time in a semi-final v New Zealand. They won the toss by electing to bat first where India scored nearly 400 (394-4) & while New Zealand never gave up chasing that big reply later on, but that wasn’t enough unfortunately to secure them a 3rd straight final after being all for 327 with just an over to spare. India won by 70 runs who are now through to their 4th World Cup final since 2011 – also as previous hosts at the time with a world championship. They only lost a World Cup final once in 2003 also against the Aussies but have won both past finals back in 1983 & 2011, so this is something Australia or South Africa needs to watch out for v this undefeated team. Now the second semi-final awaits where one of them will take on India this Sunday for the big final in Ahmedabad hopefully tonight or tomorrow if rain doesn’t hold back play between the Aussies and South Africa.

Brilliant stuff from start to finish by Team India where Shubman Gill fire off well until he got some cramps on 79 not out before Virat Kohli delivered another magnificent ton along with Shreyas Iyer & fast bowler Mohammed Shami was outstanding that made the home supporters reach something special with the ball thanks to his seven-wicket haul. Meanwhile, commiserations to New Zealand when they did the best they can to respond to that 398 run target under pressure after a tough time early in the afternoon on the field. Their batting was top-notch too led by Daryl Mitchell who scored an excellent hundred including skipper Kane Williamson at the top-order, as well as some good runs a bit down the order from Glenn Phillips. But sadly, the fielding and bowling performances were far outweighed by the always impressive Indian batting attack where NZ fell short towards the end there. It would’ve been their third straight World Cup final if they did beat the hosts but they’re still a Top 4 side who hopes to bounce back better next time.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Other Sports

Australia replied well by three wickets v Bangladesh thanks to the returning Mitch Marsh’s stunning 177* knock with the bat

by Sports Benches

Australia has wrapped up their group stage World Cup campaign on a high ahead of their next match in the semis on Thursday v South Africa, having finished 3rd on the ladder at joint 14 points with SA who had a better net rate difference in 2nd. They might have lost the toss where the Aussies had to bowl first while seeing Bangladesh bat big earlier on (306/7), but responded really well though with five overs to spare as they win by three wickets thanks to a Mitch Marsh masterclass (177* off 132 balls) as well as 50s off Dave Warner & Steve Smith. The only teams they’ve lost so far is against South Africa and India (potential Final opponent in the other semi v New Zealand on Wednesday) which was their first two games of the campaign as batting first by setting up a big score would be the key towards hopefully winning a 6th World Cup title next Sunday.

Love the fast start by the Bangladeshi batters who made the bowlers feel frustrated when piling up these runs on the board. However, the on-field and bowling performance later on unfortunately couldn’t stop the Aussies from scoring – despite another good start after getting Travis Head out early. They finished 8th of 10th just ahead of the under fire Sri Lanka side (9th) after they won two games – one was v Afghanistan and another was a big win v Sri Lanka. Meanwhile, it’s up to the seamers again to get the job done who were always underwhelmed against a free-flowing Bangladeshi batting cohort. The only positive I can say that Sean Abbott got his World Cup debut so that Mitchell Starc can rest up for the big semi on Thursday & he too got two wickets on hand which isn’t bad. Speaking of positivity, the batting was still the best though that will hopefully make other teams hard to chase – such as the always tremendous Davey Warner including two returnees at the right time in both Steve Smith (vertigo illness) & Mitchell Marsh (personal family reasons after his grandfather died last week). 

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Other Sports

Glenn Maxwell has rescued the Aussies into an amazing win as well as a semis berth v Proteas being confirmed that all came off his own bat v Afghanistan by three wickets

by Sports Benches

Wow!! Glenn Maxwell has saved the day for the Aussies who not only steered them home with the win but also able to avoid India when it comes to the semi-final berth, which is expected to be the No.2 Proteas (South Africa) side next Thursday.

They might have lost the toss to Afghanistan who chose to bat first where the Aussies may not have done well as they’d like with the ball while Ibrahim Zadran has punished them downdown (129 not out from 143 balls). Afghanistan wrapped up their fine batting card of 291/5 that sets up a 292 run for the Aussies to chase later on after the innings break. Now again, likewise with the bowling, the Top 5 batters also ended up with a hit and miss so early – especially when there was no Steve Smith due to an illness (vertigo). They were almost on the brink of a shock upset at 91-7 after 18 overs until Glenn Maxwell turned things around big time where he went on to score not just the double hundred but also the win the Aussies deserve by three wickets. Now they’re still in 3rd on the ladder which confirms their semi-final spot and not having to face Team India mid-next week with one group-stage game left v Bangladesh this Saturday whereas the fourth & final spot on the table will be a two-horse race between the Blackcaps (New Zealand) & Pakistan.

Oh so close from Afghanistan who did so well both bat and ball. Hats off to Ibrahim Zadran who batted beautifully without having to get out from start to finish. Plus, we also seen a few bowlers sharing the wickets on hand as well where they almost saw light at the end of the tunnel but only for Maxwell to ruin it towards the end there. It’s been a great campaign so far with one more game to go v Proteas this Friday as they might still have an outside shot of ousting Blackcaps & Pakistan for the 4th and final semi spot but it’s unlikely. Meanwhile, the man of the hour belongs to Glenn Maxwell, who is very established in the white ball game off the willow, alongside team-mate Adam Zampa with spin. Glad he recovered well from that golf cart accident where Maxwell had to sit out the last game v England where he loves & keeps on hitting big all over the place & the Aussies need him the most between now and next week. We hope it’s up to the rest including the seamers & the Opening/Top-order batters to help them out if they bring home the Cricket World Cup trophy real bad if they can prove India wrong in the final at their home turf next Sunday in Ahmedabad.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Other Sports

Australia confirms England’s early exit from the 2023 Cricket World Cup with two games left, having closed them out with a 33 run win

by Sports Benches

The old enemy arch-rivals Australia & England are back on the field together in a while last night at the huge Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad following the recent Ashes Test series in English soil during the middle of this year (June-July).

England have asked the Aussies to bat first after the winning toss where they might have early wickets on hand, but Australia have turned themselves around though to 286 thanks to a Marnus Labuschagne 50 as well as brilliant all-round knocks from Cam Green & Marcus Stoinis. Later on, England too scored not bad this time following Jonny Bairstow’s first ball duck of their batting spell, with 50s coming from Dawid Malan & Ben Stokes including some good runs down the order by Moeen Ali. But out of the best of the all-round displays between England’s Chris Woakes & Australia’s Adam Zampa in this game, it’s Zampa who never looked out of place as the frontline spinner (3 wickets) along with his excellent 19-ball 29 cameo off the willow. 

Australia went on to not just bowl England all out for 253 thanks to a 33 run victory, but they also confirmed their elimination from the CWC with two games left where England will not defend their 2019 crown come semi-finals time after next weekend.

It’s not been the tournament England was hoping for, especially when they came in as the defending champs who play an attacking, positive style of cricket under Bazball – even though Brendon McCullum doesn’t coach their white-ball team in One Day & T20s. The bowling/on-field performance wasn’t bad to begin with where they were good at limiting to such low scores thanks to the winning toss advantage. Now their batting has improved in some way but still just couldn’t quite hold it off there when it comes to the winning runs, as no hundred being scored against at least the top teams is the one big weakness that let’s them down big time. They still got the Netherlands (Wednesday) and Pakistan (next Saturday) left to play over the next seven days before England will fly back home empty handed, but sadly it’s been largely disappointing for the majority.

Meanwhile, it’s great to see another win for the Aussies which is five games in a row now. While the first 3 batters didn’t work out where they kept on trying to hit over the ground before being caught, but great seeing Marnus pile up the runs along with both fast bowling all-rounders in Green & Stoinis. Then with the ball, It’s always the Adam Zampa show when it comes to spin who not only got away with three wickets but he also batted well a bit down the tail end at 10. He might not be the biggest hitter but at least Zampa has found the gaps really well with some simple stuff to execute through these ropes for four. Let’s hope the fast bowlers step up to support Zampa in the hope of finishing 2nd or 3rd in the ladder so they can avoid Team India with Afghanistan next on Tuesday before before finishing off the group stages v Bangladesh next Saturday.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Other Sports

2023 Cricket World Cup weekend review: The Aussies has escaped the Blackcaps’ resurgence with the bat while England are still rock bottom after another loss v India

by Sports Benches

It was a huge weekend of World Cup cricket from a few days ago where one match was a Trans-Tasman rivalry between Australia & New Zealand while another was the host nation (India) battling up against the under-fire defending champions (England).

Australia was sent into bat after New Zealand won the toss by electing to field first as the returning Travis Head & Dave Warner got them to another best possible start, with Head backing up his 100 on his first match back from injury. Although Australia did well to keep on scoring up to 388, they were under threat by the attacking NZ side with the bat later on thanks to some spectacular knocks from Rachin Ravindra on what has been another ton, as well as 50s coming from Daryl Mitchell & Jimmy Neesham. But in the end though, the Aussies were able to put them into bed at 383-9 thanks to a narrow five run win after 50 overs of play. Meanwhile, a similar thing happened the next day to India when they were also asked to bat first after losing the toss to England. Now India might not have scored as much as they’d like especially when Virat Kohli didn’t do so well, although Rohit Sharma is still at it in his Opening role as always. However, they defended their score of 229 where the fast bowling duo of Mohammed Shami & Jasprit Bumrah dismantled England’s batting card so quickly before the opponents were all out for 129 that secured them a 100 run win.

First of all, the Blackcaps showed some good rebound with the bat after a poor showing on the field except the last couple of overs with the ball. It’s still just not enough sadly when they fell just short towards meeting that 389 run target as there’s still time to improve their fast starts (either way or hopefully with the bat next first time) as well as these catches on the field. Aussies on the other hand have been so fortunate to escape NZ’s chase on the pitch as the overs comes down where it would be great if their quicks step up when building on these early scalps other than just the usual Adam Zampa show with spin. Other than that, the opening partnership has been strong as always regardless of the other partner with Dave Warner lately including 1-2 in the middle to lower order like Glenn Maxwell, wicket keeper Josh Inglis & skipper Pat Cummins.

Then India would’ve love to score as big as they’d like where that match could go England’s way at last who is good with their so-called Bazball tactics when it comes to playing attacking cricket. But they were fortunate to shut the opposition’s batting card down as quick as they can thanks to the excellent fast bowling duo of Mohammed Shami & Jasprit Bumrah as said above including some help in the spin department from Kuldeep Yadav. And speaking of England, their bowling wasn’t bad where the could come at last after bowling them out for 229. But unfortunately, their batters still blew it up before it was too late just short of 100 runs which was the 230 run target as they are still rock bottom in this CWC.

Australia will renew its long-standing rivalry v England this Saturday while New Zealand will next be out on the field soon tonight v South Africa followed by Team India the next day v Sri Lanka.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Other Sports

Sri Lanka beat England on what has been another Cricket World Cup match between the two teams with an easy eight wicket win

by Sports Benches

What now for England after they lost three in a row including overnight v Sri Lanka as well as four out of their last five matches so far in the 2023 Cricket World Cup. They might have the toss advantage at the start by electing to bat first, but it’s been extremely underwhelming to say unfortunately. A mix of run-outs & mis-timed hits saw them being wiped out so fast within 35 overs for 156 before England weren’t able to stop the Sri Lankans from defending their low-scoring target of 157 with a huge eight wicket loss.

England knows how to get the ball rolling as seen in both innings spells. However, they have been stuck in a rut, particularly on the field including some of their top-order batters & they’ve haven’t shown anything like this as of late. We’ve only seen 1-2 players who can bat well in the other half batting card, such as Mark Wood last game with his 17-ball 43 v South Africa (forgot to give him a shoutout there) & Ben Stokes last night also with his 73-ball 43 display here v Sri Lanka. As said, it’s up to the on-field side of things (bowling & fielding) now in order to get back on track – which would really benefit the batters that would win them games. And in the contrary, Sri Lanka’s on-field performance has been brilliant before they got themselves home at their own pace where the communication was there that led to some good direct hits/stumping, appeals and catches amongst the scalps they’ve accrued across a few bowlers from overnight. Shoutout to Lahiru Kumara who wiped the English middle order with three wickets on hand, particularly Ben Stokes. With the bat, Pathum Nissanka has remained calm & composed as always from the beginning with a 83-ball 77 that includes the winning runs, while Sadeera Samarawickrama also did well to help bring the Sri Lankans home with Nissanka after he too scored so quickly at 65 runs not out off 54 balls.

England’s next game is against the in-form India side this Sunday which is going to be extremely difficult whereas the Sri Lankans hope to keep their World Cup semis hope alive when they battle v Afghanistan the next day on Monday.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Other Sports

Australia scored and win big v the Netherlands yesterday in the 2023 Cricket World Cup with the Trans-Tasman Rivalry next up v NZ’s Blackcaps in two days time

by Sports Benches

The Aussies have won the toss by choosing to bat first v the Netherlands as the openers have fired off well during the first 2-3 overs until Mitchell Marsh mistimed that pull shot where it landed straight up to the fielder. But fortunately, they have made lots of excellent runs in a total of 399/8 with Steve Smith & Marnus Labuschagne both scoring half-centuries, while Dave Warner backed up another 100 before Glenn Maxwell rounded off Australia’s 50-Over batting shift with a quickfire 40-ball century of his own. Then they went on to bowl the Netherlands all out for 90 after just over 21 overs led by spinner Adam Zampa, who once again got his 4fer for 8 runs with the ball, as the Aussies take their 3rd win of the CWC by 309 runs.

It wasn’t an easy day in the office from the Netherlands when they made some early wickets, such as that early Mitchell Marsh dismissal by Colin Ackermann off Logan Van Beek including Roelof Van Der Merwe’s stunning grab that ended Steve Smith’s shift at point – even though his first catch attempt was rejected by the 3rd umpire where it carried into the ground & not covering the whole hand that gave Warner a sigh of relief. Unfortunately, it didn’t pay off from here with a mix of expansive overs & missed catches while the Aussies including Warner went on to score more runs before they couldn’t do anything about it later on, despite a good 25 runs from opening batter Vikramjit Singh before their quick collapse for the night.

Meanwhile, glad the Aussies quickly moved on from Mitchell Marsh’s early dismissal where Smith & Warner built a great partnership together. Labuschagne also didn’t do bad after the dismissal of Smith where he’s an decent top-order batter as proven in Test Match level, as well as Maxwell, who didn’t hesitate smashing lots of boundaries, where he’s been an unreal white-ball specialist thanks to his quickfire ton. And speaking of white-ball specialists within the Aussie ODI squad, Adam Zampa did well to dismantle the other half of the Netherlands batting card – including the first two being back-to-back wickets within his 2nd over of his spell – after a few of their seamers did well to share a couple early wickets on hand.

These two teams will now play different sides next up on Saturday with the Aussies set for Trans-Tasman rivalry with the Blackcaps from NZ earlier in the day (starting at 4pm in the afternoon AEDT) while the Netherlands v Bangladesh.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Other Sports

2023 Cricket World Cup, India def. Blackcaps out of the best undefeated sides yesterday in a low-scoring contest

by Sports Benches

The Top 2 & also both undefeated teams have finally met yesterday where host nation India take on the Blackcaps (New Zealand), having seen India won the toss by electing to bowl/field first. India fired off with two early wickets while the Blackcaps eventually got off the mark when Rachin Ravindra scored 87 at his own pace as well as Daryl Mitchell who made lots of runs so quickly at 130 off 127 balls before they were all out just at the finish line of their batting shift for 273. Then India went on to make an impressive batting performance right away including Virat Kohli where he might not be able to get his 100 after being caught by Glenn Phillips on 95, but it’s still not hard for to meet the 274 run target with the win by 4 wickets.

Commiserations to the Blackcaps for losing this match when their openers weren’t up & firing yesterday. Although nothing against from Ravindra & Mitchell whom they’ve batted so well, but the rest of them including their on-field and bowling performance just wasn’t there to give themselves a better chance towards frustrating that in-form Indian side. Yes, I know they had 1-2 overs left to make an outside chance of turning this around after getting a couple of the opposition batters out, but it’s still hard get out of jail under pressure when trying to make them swing & miss or flick straight to the fielder.

And hats off to the remaining undefeated side in India right now who not only made good use of their winning toss, but they’ve produced an all-round display that made them easier to chase – even though it was a low scoring match against a fellow top notch team in the Blackcaps. As said, it was good seeing India remove both openers early, while Mohammed Shami caused a huge domino effect towards the rest of the NZ batting card after he ended Ravindra’s patient innings that led to his five-wicket haul. With the bat, they didn’t have any problems getting the ball rolling before Virat Kohli came in & scored something special despite being five runs short of a 100. Plus, shoutout to Shreyas Iyer for backing him up as well as Ravi Jadeja, who can do spin & bat a bit by scoring the winning runs for Team India.

Next up, India have the near whole week off ahead of facing the under-fire England team this Sunday. Meanwhile, the Blackcaps meet the Aussies with our Trans-Tasman rivalry the day beforehand (Saturday afternoon at 4pm AEDT) as the 2nd-4th places are heating up that would mean a semi-finals berth going past the halfway group stage mark.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
  • 1
  • 2