ICC Champions Trophy: Rain Ruins Australia's Run Chase vs Bangladesh

June 6, 2017

Jun 6: Australia face a make or break Champions Trophy showdown with England after their Group A clash against Bangladesh was abandoned due to rain on Monday.Run

Steve Smith's side were chasing 183 to beat Bangladesh at The Oval when persistent drizzle forced the players from the field.

Having scored 83-1 from 16 overs, Australia only needed to play for four more overs to be eligible to win via the Duckworth-Lewis rule for rain-affected games.

Instead, Smith and his team-mates were reduced to anxiously looking at weather updates and peering upwards for any sign of a break in the slate grey sky.

Unfortunately for Australia, who bowled out Bangladesh for 182, the rain became heavier and the match was called off at 2019 GMT.

Australia will be cursing their luck as they were also frustrated by bad weather when their opening group fixture against New Zealand was abandoned, although on that occasion they were in a less commanding position.

With England, who won their opener against Bangladesh, due to play New Zealand in the next Group A fixture, two-time champions Australia will have to beat the hosts in Birmingham on June 10 to qualify for the semi-finals.

"It's a little bit frustrating not to get a result in," Smith said.

"Of course I didn't want to go off. I was happy to keep batting through the rain.

"The umpires are there to make a decision. To be fair it was raining reasonably hard when we did come off.

"The groundsmen, they perhaps could have shown a bit more urgency being a big tournament. But they did the best job they could."

Tamim Iqbal's 95 was the highlight for Bangladesh, who are winless and face New Zealand in their final group tie.

Despite Iqbal's best efforts, Mitchell Starc's spell of four wickets in nine balls ensured Australia had the upper hand before the rain arrived.

Aware that ominous clouds were gusting in, Australia needed to get off to a fast start to have a chance of winning on the D/L rule if the required 20 overs were bowled.

Aaron Finch and David Warner both crushed a pair of fours as Australia raced to 37-0 in six overs.

Warner was especially aggressive, pulling one tame delivery from Mashrafe Mortaza off his hip and away to the fence in a flash.

Rubel Hossain briefly stemmed the tide when the Bangladesh seamer dismissed Finch lbw with an inswinger the opener couldn't handle as he played across his pads.

When Warner's total reached 37 he had passed 4,000 runs in one-day internationals.

Only South Africa's Hashim Amla and West Indies legend Viv Richards hit that milestone quicker than Warner's 93 innings.

After the rain began to pour, Australia briefly had hope when the covers were taken off and the umpires announced play would start at 1930 GMT.

But instead the rain returned before the game could restart and Australia's hopes of victory were washed away.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
June 13,2020

Mumbai, Jun 13: Vasant Raiji, who was India's oldest first-class cricketer at 100, died in Mumbai in the wee hours of Saturday.

Raiji was 100 years old and is survived by his wife and two daughters.

"He (Raiji) passed away at 2.20 am in his sleep at his residence in Walkeshwar in South Mumbai due to old-age," his son-in-law Sudarshan Nanavati told PTI.

Raiji, a right-handed batsman, played nine first-class matches in the 1940s, scoring 277 runs with 68 being his highest score.

He made his debut for a Cricket Club of India team that played Central Provinces and Berar in Nagpur in 1939.

His Mumbai debut happened in 1941 when the team played Western India under the leadership of Vijay Merchant.

Raiji, also a cricket historian and chartered accountant, was 13 when India played its first Test match at the Bombay Gymkhana in South Mumbai.

Cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar and former Australian skipper Steve Waugh had paid a courtesy visit to Raiji at his residence in January when he had turned 100.

It has been learnt that the cremation will take place at the Chandanwadi crematorium in South Mumbai on Saturday afternoon.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
March 15,2020

Chennai, Mar 15: Wicket-keeper batsman MS Dhoni has left the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) training camp following the postponement of the Indian Premier League (IPL) amidst the coronavirus scare.

The former India skipper had joined the CSK's camp earlier this month in order to practice for the upcoming IPL season.

CSK's official handle tweeted a video of Dhoni and captioned the post as: "It has become your home sir!" Keep whistling, as #Thala Dhoni bids a short adieu to #AnbuDen".

Thirty-eight-year-old Dhoni has been currently enjoying some time away from the game. He last played competitive cricket during the 2019 World Cup.

Dhoni had to face criticism for his slow batting approach during India's matches in the tournament.

Earlier this year, Dhoni did not find a place for himself in the BCCI's centrally contracted players list.

BCCI had released the list of central contract list of players for the period from October 2019 to September 2020.

On Friday, BCCI decided to postpone the IPL until April 15 as a precautionary measure against the coronavirus pandemic.

On Saturday, all the IPL franchises met in Mumbai to discuss as to how to go on with the tournament in the future.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
February 22,2020

Sydney, Feb 22: India's demolition of a formidable Australia in the Women's T20 World Cup opener will give them a huge boost going forward, said star batswoman Mithali Raj, who also lauded leggie Poonam Yadav for her magical performance.

Poonam took four for 19 to help India complete a 17-run victory against defending champions Australia on Friday.

"Everyone has been talking about how much batting depth Australia have, yet they couldn't chase 132," Raj, a former India Test and ODI captain, said in an ICC release.

"India will take so much confidence from that victory, but this World Cup is still very open. The match between Australia and India proved how competitive the tournament will be. It proves it does not matter where you stand in the ICC rankings.

"We will be seeing more of the same drama yet. This victory proves every team has a chance," said Raj, who has retired from T20 cricket.

The 37-year-old veteran batswoman said "the opening match definitely lived up to the hype of the tournament".

"It was a whirlwind. There were so many ups and downs. It was a great start to the tournament not only because India beat the defending champions on home soil, but also because of how the game progressed altogether.

"At no point could you say it was going in one side's favour. First we saw our early wickets fall, then we recovered and Australia had to chase 132 before their middle-order collapsed. India and Australia both took the game their own way at different points which made it fascinating for spectators to watch."

Raj said Poonam's spell was the turning point.

"She's been one of the main spinners for India for quite some time now, and her style worked again. Getting their (Australia's) middle-order out really titled the match towards India, she was brilliant.

"Although we recovered our innings through Deepti Sharma and her partnership with Jemimah Rodrigues, it was Poonam's flurry of wickets against Australia's megastars, which completely changed the game," Raj said.

Raj also praised 16-year-old Shafali Verma for scoring 29 off 15 on her World Cup debut.

"Shafali Verma impressed me too on her debut. She gave India's middle order the cushioning they needed to regain momentum. Verma has stuck with stroke play that she demonstrated in the tri-series," she said.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.