Australia's young batting brigade has come under immense fire as the home side suffered an unimaginable series defeat against the Men in Green for the first time in the ODI format since 2002. Some fiery exhibition of fast bowling from Haris Rauf, Shaheen Afridi, and Naseem Shah reduced the all-might Aussie batting lineup to rubbles as Australia were bowled out for less than 180 in the remaining two ODIs. The obvious reason for their swift downfall can be pointed out to their paltry batting which led to their undoing in the series.

The Australia batting department experienced some new lows in that series. This 1-2 series defeat also marks the first instance where none of the Aussie batters failed to register a fifty or fifty-plus score. 

Hussey dissects the underlying reason behind Australia's catastrophic batting failure

Former Australia cricketer and sports commentator Michael Hussey commented on air about the players' inclination towards playing an aggressive brand of T20 cricket. He highlighted that the heavy-risk brand of cricket has infiltrated the Aussie batting lineup. Due to the high proliferation of franchise cricket, their batters have now become more susceptible to getting out in a rash manner. 

“Playing a lot of T20 cricket and seeing what’s happening around the world, batters these days are going really hard – playing high-risk games. When it comes off, it looks great and it’s exciting for everyone to watch. But when it doesn’t in the face of high-quality bowling, you can get exposed.”

It has been a go-to strategy, especially for the likes of Josh Inglis and Jake Fraser-McGurk to go all out from ball number one in the recently concluded three-match series. This strategy can do wonders on some days while on other days, it can backfire. The 49-year-old urges the youngsters to adopt a slightly different approach to 50-over cricket and shift their focus on converting small starts into big scores. 

“You’ve got a bit of time, you can build that innings … turn that 20-30 into a 50-60 and then hopefully an 80-100, but that’s part of the development. 50 overs is sort of that in-between game … you do have a bit more time.” 

Michael Vaughan shell-shocked after witnessing Australia's horror show with the bat

Former England captain Michael Vaughan shared the same concerns as his counterpart Hussey and admitted that he had never ever seen the Aussie batting lineup crumble against such a high-quality seam attack. Vaughan felt that the potent Pakistan pace attack troubled the batters with swing and pace, although not being express pace, to lose all 20 wickets under 200 in both games was simply unthinkable by his standards. 

“Let’s be honest, for three games I don’t remember seeing an Australian batting lineup look so exposed.” Three games on the trot against a bit of pace, a bit of movement – it’s not express, it’s not rapid. But they’ve been completely exposed.”

Following the conclusion of a highly entertaining ODI series, the focus now moves to the T20I series that will commence on November 14 at the Gabba. Some big names from the Australian camp will be missing as the likes of Cummins, Starc, and Hazlewood are all but away to prepare for the upcoming Border Gavaskar Trophy that will start on November 22. 

See also: Australian squad announced for Perth Test with two potential Test debutants

In a sensational semi-final clash at Tarouba’s Brian Lara Cricket Academy, South Africa’s quicks dismantled Afghanistan’s batting lineup, rolling them out for a mere 56 runs. This match has sparked controversy and conversation, not just for the on-field action but also for the revelations made off the field.

Controversial Lead-Up

During the match, former English cricketer and renowned commentator Michael Vaughan made a sensational revelation. He tweeted, “So Afghanistan qualify for the WC semi-final by winning in St. Vincent on Monday night. They then face a 4-hour flight delay on Tuesday to Trinidad, leaving no time to practice or get accustomed to the new venue. Utter lack of respect to players, I’m afraid.”

After winning the last Super Eight clash against Bangladesh, the Afghanistan team had to travel to a different venue for the semi-final. However, their flight was delayed by 4 hours, which meant they didn’t get the chance to practice. This disruption likely contributed to their poor performance. This raises serious issues regarding the ICC’s scheduling and logistics. This tweet highlighted the logistical nightmare Afghanistan faced, potentially affecting their performance.

See Also: “No more Australia in this competition,” Rohit Sharma’s cheeky remark on Australia’s exit from the 2024 T20 World Cup

Michael Vaughan’s revelation about Afghanistan’s disrupted preparation has raised questions about the ICC’s scheduling and logistical arrangements. This controversy has added another layer to the narrative of the semi-final and might prompt the ICC to review its processes.

Match Overview

Captain Rashid Khan won the toss and chose to bat first, hoping to set a challenging target for South Africa. However, Afghanistan’s innings quickly turned into a nightmare. By the seventh over, they were reeling at 28/6, thanks to the relentless pace attack from Marco Jansen and Kagiso Rabada.

South Africa’s dominant bowling performance

Jansen’s spell was nothing short of extraordinary. He started the demolition job by dismissing Rahmanullah Gurbaz in the very first over.

Rabada complemented Jansen perfectly, taking two crucial wickets in his first over. His pace and accuracy were too much for the Afghan top order, leaving them in tatters at the end of the powerplay.

Middle overs struggles

Amidst the chaos, Karim Janat and Rashid Khan tried to steady the ship with a 22-run partnership for the seventh wicket. However, their resistance was short-lived as Tabraiz Shamsi and Anrich Nortje quickly dismantled the lower order.

Shamsi’s spin and Nortje’s pace proved to be the final nails in the coffin for Afghanistan. Shamsi picked up three wickets, exploiting the turn and bounce on the pitch, while Nortje’s express pace cleaned up the tail.

Lowest Total in T20 World Cup Semifinals

Afghanistan’s total of 56 is the lowest ever in T20 World Cup semi-finals. This performance overshadowed the previous lowest, which was 128/6 by Sri Lanka against England in 2010. The collapse was a stark reminder of the pressures of high-stakes cricket.

In the T20I series, Bangladesh defeated world champion England 3-0, winning the final match in Dhaka by 16 runs.

Bangladesh beat England in the T20I series by a historic score of 3-0 on Tuesday

The Shakib Al Hasan-drove side staggered the title holders, enrolling a 16-run dominate in the last match of the series as Britain neglected to pursue down a 159-run focus in Dhaka. After a 3-0 victory over the English team in 2014 under the leadership of George Bailey, this was England’s first T20I series defeat in nine years. In the shortest format of the game, this was Bangladesh’s first whitewash against a full member nation.

Wasim Jaffer, the batting consultant for the Bangladesh U19 team, sent a vicious tweet about former England captain Michael Vaughan following their crushing victory. Over the past few years, Jaffer and Vaughan had been tweeting jokes.

As a result, Bangladesh’s strong home performances in limited-overs formats have continued. In the lead-up to the T20 World Cup last year, the team had defeated Australia (4-1) and New Zealand (3-2) in the T20I series, as well as India 2-1 in the ODI series in December.

“We talked about showing character ahead of the series and that’s what we showed, We were put into a tough position but won the game. That’s the thing that will give us the confidence as we are building a team for the 2024 T20 World Cup.

” Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan said after their win over England. 

On a slow Mirpur surface, opener Liton Das scored a career-high 73 runs, and Najmul Hossain Shanto’s unbeaten 47 runs helped Bangladesh score 158-2. Before being run out in consecutive deliveries, captain Jos Buttler and Dawid Malan had England on track to avoid being swept. In the end, England fell to 142-6 in 20 overs.

The English team did win the ODI series against Bangladesh last month, winning 2-1, but the hosts won the series finale by 50 runs. On March 18, when it hosts Ireland, the team led by Shakib will resume play in the game’s shortest format.