Playing only for pride after a wretched T20 World Cup campaign, Australia have at least signed off on an upbeat note with skipper Mitch Marsh taking out his frustration by helping smash his side to a nine-wicket victory over makeweights Oman in Sri Lanka.
Looking unsurprisingly subdued in a match which had been pencilled in as a warm-up for their entry into the Super Eight stage but turned into a dispiriting ‘dead rubber’, Marsh’s already eliminated side at least couldn’t be faulted for professionalism as they bowed out in ruthless fashion in Pallekele on Friday.
After Australia bowled out the Omanis for 104 in 16.2 overs, with Adam Zampa (4-21) starring, Marsh himself then bludgeoned an unbeaten 64 as they hurried to 1-108 with 62 balls still remaining, looking as if he couldn’t wait to get home quickly enough.
It was joint-fastest any side has chased down a 100-plus total in the T20 World Cup, but nothing was about to cheer up Marsh as he sighed afterwards: “It’s a bitterly disappointed change room.
“We’ve built for two years to get here and, unfortunately, we didn’t play our best in a couple of games we needed to, and that’s tournament play … Yeah, we’re a very disappointed group.”
Australia, already beaten by Zimbabwe and co-hosts Sri Lanka, had never lost to an Associate nation in T20 cricket, and from the first ball, set out their stall to at least ensure they were spared that indignity.
With Marsh having opted to field first, Xavier Bartlett’s first delivery was a superb inswinger that smacked into the leg-stump of Aamir Kaleem via a faint inside edge and it set the tone for Australia.
Zampa’s 20 balls of legspin proved too troublesome for the Omani batters as he ran through the middle-order and was helped by the excellent Bartlett (2-27 off his four overs) while Glenn Maxwell made up for a dropped slip catch off Bartlett in the opening over to chip in with 2-13.
Nathan Ellis (1-14) and Marcus Stoinis (1-16) both grabbed a wicket each before Marsh then went to work mercilessly, crashing 14 runs off the first over to set his stall and mowing seven fours and four sixes in all during his 33-ball assault.
The Omanis, utterly outclassed, still enjoyed the most comically heartwarming moment when 38-year-old left-armer Shakeel Ahmed caused Travis Head to miscue after he’d raced to 32 off 19 balls and raced wildly to take the caught-and-bowled, even barging wicketkeeper Vinayak Shukla out of the way to enjoy his moment of glory.
As he finally just about managed to cling on, Shakeel then offered what looked suspiciously like a Cristiano Ronaldo-style Superman celebration.
Marsh’s side ended up finishing third in their group, the first time they’ve been eliminated in the prelims of a global event for 17 years.
It left Marsh to reflect: “We’ll look at it as players and as a team to ensure, if we’re lucky enough to have the opportunity as a group again, that we’re better.
“When you fail, there’s always great learnings. We couldn’t be more disappointed in the way that was panned out — but we go home and we reflect and move on.”
https://thewest.com.au/sport/cricket/playing-for-pride-aussies-end-t20-world-cup-with-win-c-21706260
