Cricket World Cup '19: Smith hits gritty 85 as England bowlers dismiss Australia for 223
Birmingham, July 11: After a string of low scores, former Australia skipper Steve Smith rose to the occasion and hit a gritty 85 to take Australia to 223 against hosts England in the second semi-final of the 2019 World Cup at Edgbaston Cricket Ground on Thursday. This after the English bowler created mayhem in the first four overs to reduce them to 14/3 under slightly overcast conditions.
Bringing in all the experience of the 117 ODIs he had played before this game, Smith put his head down and kept waiting for the bad balls to make hay till an effort to run a quick single saw him being run out in the 48th over. Australia also lost Mitchell Starc (29) off the very next ball to again lose the plot towards the end.
Earlier, winning the toss and batting first, Australia got off to a disastrous start as they lost skipper Aaron Finch (0) in the second over of the innings. Having managed to evade his issues with the incoming delivery so far in the tournament, Finch was done in by a beauty from Jofra Archer. The Aussies did take a review, but it was a waste.
Chris Woakes then handed Australia a twin blow as he first sent back in-form David Warner for 9, caught by Jonny Bairstow behind the wicket, and then dismissed Peter Handscomb (4) with the incoming delivery as the gap between his bat and pad saw the stumps being rattled.
With the score reading a dismal 14/3, Alex Carey joined Smith in the middle and the wicket-keeper was immediately welcomed with a ferocious bouncer by Archer that hit him on the chin. A bloodied chin notwithstanding, Carey was ready to battle it out for the team.
The two put their heads down and started stitching a partnership as the Australians slowly crawled back into the game. But just when it looked like the duo will run away with the game Adil Rashid struck, getting Carey (49) to sweep one straight down James Vince''s throat. The 103-run partnership was broken against the run of play.
Rashid then picked Marcus Stoinis for a duck as he failed to read another googly and was trapped leg before. Glenn Maxwell was the next man in and looked in good flow before an Archer delivery saw him loop one back to Eoin Morgan at cover. Another disappointing 23-ball 22 for the batsman as Rashid then returned to send back Pat Cummins with another googly, caught beautifully at first slip by Joe Root for 6.
With the score on 175/7 after 40 overs, it was all about aggression with an eye on the wickets column for the Australian duo of Smith and Mitchell Starc. In the end, Australia picked 47 runs in the last nine before being dismissed in the 49th over.
Brief Scores:
Australia: 223 (Smith 85; Woakes 3/20, Rashid 3/54)
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Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
