Once Australia reached 179, they had to restrict Ireland to 104 or lower to go past England’s NRR of +.239. They were cruising towards achieving it, after reducing Ireland to 25 for 5, but Lorcan Tucker’s fifty would deny them even though they won the game. At one stage, when the equation read 47 from 19 balls, after Tucker had hit his sixth four off Mitch Starc, Adam Gilchrist would say, “Do they dare believe, Ireland?” And Ian Bishop would reply, “why not, Gilly?!” Australia would prevail though, winning by 42 runs.
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Captain Finch gives himself some breathing space
The pressure was truly on Aaron Finch when he lost the toss and went to bat. Allan Border and Michael Clarke had wanted him dropped, and Mark Waugh wanted him to bat down the order. There have been public outcries for a while now; he has already quit the ODI format and this could well be his last tournament before he quits the international format.
Australia complete a fine win to keep semi-final hopes alive 💪#T20WorldCup | #AUSvIRE | 📝: https://t.co/glBzJZMISJ pic.twitter.com/21JDlSRg6q
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— T20 World Cup (@T20WorldCup) October 31, 2022
And it might have been all over for him in the first ball of the fourth over. Who knows whether he would have been able to weather the storm of criticism had he been run out that ball. He had even given up, almost grinding to a halt well before the stumps at the non-striker’s end but luckily, for him, George Dockrell’s throw from covers just missed the stumps. That was the luck Finch needed to turn around his fortunes.
Off the fifth ball of the same over, he punched a four through covers but it was in the next over that fans would have felt that their old Finchy was back. As is his wont, he opened up his stance a touch to blast a full ball from Mark Adair, who had troubled him in his earlier over, over midwicket for a muscled six. Couple of balls later, Adair tried the slower one; it was thrown back from long-off boundary.
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Finch then slowed down, allowing Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis to do their thing, before he stirred again in the 15th over. And guess who copped his heat? Adair, of course. A pulled four to square-leg was followed last ball with a six to the top tier over cow corner as 26 runs came off that over. He would jump out to the leg side and wallop the left-arm spinner Dockrell over long-off before holing out to long-on, dragging a full toss from McCarthy. But by then, he had brought himself some breathing space with a fifty.
At one stage when Stoinis and Finch were going, especially after that 22-run 15th over, it seemed Australia were heading for a 200-run total. But Ireland, just as they did immediately after powerplay before Maxwell broke the shackles, would tie them down. It took some long-handle in the end from Tim David and Matthew Wade to take Australia to 179.
Maxwell turns Botham and Starc does Starc things
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When Finch was batting with Maxwell, a commentator would say that Australia needed to win by 74 runs to catch up with England’s NRR of NRR +0.239 and Nasser Hussain would chirp: “That would be the last thing on Finch’s mind now. If they get out for a par total, Ireland can hurt them”. Words to that effect.
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Since Australia got to 179, they had to restrict Ireland to 104 or under. And they started off with a bang, reducing Ireland to 25 for 5.
It was a combination of some lucky breaks from Maxwell the off spinner and two stunning blows from Mitch Starc.
Glen Maxwell is the new Ian Botham, In the way he can pick wickets off tripe and long hops and celebrate it like he had planned it all along. First he saw off the aggressive Paul Stirling, who had hit the shot of the match when he walloped Pat Cummins over cow corner, with a short delivery outside off that was cut straight to cover. And he roared. Fair enough, that was a huge bonus wicket. Next, in the same 3rd over, he had another long hop and incredibly Harry Tector swatted it straight to square-leg, sending Maxwell into yet another roar-and-a-hop routine. Botham has this reputation of getting wickets off long-hops, with Greg Chappell his famous victims on a couple of times.
Starc then took charge, next over. Two booming late inswingers had him knocking down the stumps of Lorcan Tucker and George Dockrell. And a huge positive NRR loomed.
Lorcan Tucker refuses to give up
The Irish wicket-keeper batsman first added 43 runs with Gareth Delany and kept chipping the runs to take them onwards. Not that Australia’s NRR matters to Ireland but it was Tucker who took the run to get Ireland past that 104-run mark. Tucker had shown he meant business in the sixth over off Starc who had just taken two wickets. Out he charged to flick Starc to a boundary and followed it next ball with a fine pull. Then when Starc returned in the 12th over, Tucker yet again reeled off the successive fours, a pull off a slower one and a drill to cover boundary. He would bring up his fifty with a thundering six over long-on off Josh Hazlewood in the 16th over. And when Starc came back for the 17th over, Tucker repeated the dose again. Not successive but two fours in the over. Both fours smashed to long-off boundary. The equation read 47 from 19 balls. It made Adam Gilchrist perk up: Do they dare believe Ireland? Ian Bishop would reply, “why not, Gilly?” But Australia would wrap it up by 42 runs.
