T20 World Cup.

[Skids]

Kiwis through to the final.

Took NZ/Aus double @ $4.80. NZ were $2.40, Aus $2. Pak are $1.80 favourite for tonights game.

[Pies4shaw]

[Donny]

Wouldn't it be reasonable to at least have a quick check of what, if any, major sporting events could be scheduled for the times they are considering shutting down for line maintenance ?

Essential Energy called a 'line maintenance' time-out, to begin at 10 PM tonight and finish at 6 AM. Meaning no lights or power points, no 'net, TV or radio - no bloody cricket.

Tonight of all nights !! Surely someone would've noticed the Aussies v. Pakistan match was to be played, during those times, starting at 1 AM ?!

Was just about to contact one of our Sports Bar regulars to ask them to provide updates and comments, when I decided to phone the Essential Energy hotline, to ask which idiot was responsible for this stuff-up.

Phew. Was informed the work had been called off, due to rain.

[Donny]

Finch won the toss and elected to chase.

[Donny]

Pakistan 0/38 after 5 overs.

[Donny]

1/89 after 12 overs. Zamps has the wicket, that of Azam.

[Donny]

4/176 (20 overs ). Rizwan 67, Zaman 55*.

[Pies4shaw]

Australia win - 5/177 from 19 overs. That was the highest score at Dubai in this tournament.

At the start of the 19th over, Australia needed 22:

1 Shaheen Shah Afridi to Stoinis, no run
Edged behind, short of the keeper.

2 Shaheen Shah Afridi to Stoinis, 1 leg bye
Appeal for lbw turned down. Pakistan reviewed. Pitched outside leg

3 Shaheen Shah Afridi to Wade, 1 wide

3 Shaheen Shah Afridi to Wade, 2 runs
Wade slogs it to deep midwicket. Hasan can't hang on to the chance.

4 Shaheen Shah Afridi to Wade, 6 runs
Scooped very fine down the leg side. That shot has ended the game as a contest.

5 Shaheen Shah Afridi to Wade, 6 runs
Belted long over midwicket.

6 Shaheen Shah Afridi to Wade, 6 runs
6, 6, 6 - Wade ruins a tight game. This one lifted straight over the keeper, scooping up an attempted yorker.

The 19th over for each team was the difference - Pakistan made 1/3 from theirs, bowled by Cummins - and Australia 0/22 from theirs.

You have to feel sorry for Shadab Khan. He bowled brilliantly. You'd think if you had one bowler taking 4/26 and the 4 were Marsh, Warner, Smith and Maxwell - after Finch had been caught lbw first ball - that Australia wouldn't chase down any reasonable total. Also, after his first 3 overs, Shaheen Shah Afridi had 1/14. Indeed, after 3.3 overs, he had 1/17 - but ended up being carted for 18 from his last 3 baslls.

[Pies4shaw]

Selection issue for Australia. The Final is at the same ground as today's match.

Zampa was the pick of the bowlers with 1/22 from his 4.

Hazlewood went 0/49. Starc was expensive, too - but took 2 wickets (2/38) and Cummins was solid, as usual (1/30). Cummins and Starc have the ability to keep all but the best batsmen under wraps but, on a wicket that doesn't offer anything for the quicks, the batsmen seem to be able to just hit through Hazlewood.

By contrast, Maxwell - who is scarcely a great bowler - chipped in with 3 over, 0/20: that meant Marsh, who was taken for 11 from his over, wasn't exposed.

At the same ground, against England, Hazlewood went for 0/18 from his two overs, whereas Agar, with no pace on the ball, managed 1/15 from 2.4 overs. Agar can also bat a bit (he made 20 from 20 in a generally dismal Australian performance in that game).

Indeed, Hazlewood has played 4 matches at Dubai and only taken wickets against Bangladesh. He went wicketless against Pakistan, Sri Lanka and England and his economy rates in those 3 games were 9 (England), 12.25 (Pakistan) and 6.5 (Sri Lanka).

It's got to be horses for courses and you'd think that Guptill or Mitchell might get a hold of Hazlewood if they can hit through him on a true pitch. It's hard to know how Guptill will go - Guptill has played at Dubai in 5 T20 internationals over his career for scores of 8, 17 and 22 (all against Pakistan between 2009 and 2014) and, in this tournament, 20 against India and 93 against Scotland. In his two games at Dubai, Mitchell hit 49 from 35 against India and didn't get going against Scotland (13 from 13). He hit 7 boundaries (4 4s and 3 6s) in that India game, 3 from Jadeja in one over in the power play and 3 from Thakur in over 10. I'm not sure why he wasn't POTM in that game - NZ was only chasing 110 and he made easily the highest score in the game at easily the highest run rate.

It's a dilemma, though - if the wicket offers any swing or seam movement, Hazlewood is the third bowler picked, after Cummins and Zampa.

[Donny]

Thanks, P4. I enjoyed reading all that.

Difficult to find a superlative for what Wade did.

After his first 2 sixes from Afridi's 4th. and 5th. deliveries, leaving the Aussies with 6 to get from 7 balls, did he 'shut up shop' ? Did he say to Stoinis, "Ok mate. 1 or 2 from this one and we can cruise the last over" ?

No.

He outrageously scooped that last ball over the keeper AND the boundary.

[Pies4shaw]

Going into that game, Pakistan had not been beaten in a T20 game in the UAE since November 2015. They tied the game after that and then went on a run of 16 straight wins (variously against the West Indies, Sri Lanka, Australia and New Zealand in 4 series, plus New Zealand and India at this World Cup, as well as the minnows they faced).

I guess, as they say, every win is a game closer to your next loss.

[Donny]

New Zealand wicketkeeper-batter Devon Conway has been ruled out of the T20 World Cup final on Sunday against Australia, and the subsequent India tour with a broken right hand.

More: https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/t20-world-cup-2021-nzs-hand-injury-rules-devon-conway-out-of-t20-world-cup-final-and-india-tour-1288858

[Pies4shaw]

Another note on Australia's batting performance - apart from games between minnows, there was just one game (2013, between Sri Lanka and Pakistan) in which a team scored a higher T20 total at Dubai than Pakistan - and then Australia - scored last night. So, Australia's score was the third-highest all-time score in a match at this venue between 2 of the "stronger" nations.

Looking forward to the Final, NZ has scored 5/172 there - but that was against Scotland. Their best score at Dubai against a "stronger" nation was 7/153 in a game they lost to Pakistan in 2018. NZ has played at Dubai 8 times in a T20 match, for 3 wins and 5 losses. They have beaten Scotland, India and Pakistan once each and lost 5 times to Pakistan. NZ has never played Australia in Dubai.

[Pies4shaw]

[23 YIPPEE!!!]

Tipping an Aussie win to win the t20 World Cup win the toss and bowl