World Cup T20 Matches – Seventeenth Day – 1.10.2022
– Dr. K.Y. Balasubramanian –
Two Group 1 matches were played today at the Brisbane Stadium in Australia. Sri Lanka and Afghanistan teams played in the first match and England and New Zealand teams played in the second match.
First match, Sri Lanka-Afghanistan
Afghanistan (144/8, Gurbaz 28, Usman Ghani 27, Ibrahim 22, Hazaranga 3/13) beat Sri Lanka (148 for 4 in 18.3 overs, Dhananjaya de Silva 66*, Gusal Mendis 25, Asalanga 19, Mujibur Rahman, Rashid Khan both 2 wickets each) lost by six wickets,
Afghanistan won the toss and elected to bat first. Afghanistan’s top six batsmen were Gurfaz (28 runs off 24 balls), Usman Ghani (27 runs off 27 balls), Ibrahim (22 runs off 18 balls), Najbullah (18 runs off 16 balls), Nabi (12 runs off 14 balls), Muhammad Nabi (8 13 runs off balls) added runs without pause. So the team scored 144 runs for the loss of eight wickets at the end of 20 overs. Among the Sri Lankan bowlers, Hazaranga bowled 4 overs and gave 13 runs and took 3 wickets. The batters were not allowed to hit a single four in it.
The Sri Lankan players who came next also added runs without delay. In particular, Dhananjaya de Silva scored an unbeaten 66 off 42 balls. As a result, the Sri Lankan team scored 148 runs in 18.3 overs and won.
The second match is England-New Zealand
England (179/6, Buttler 73, Hales 52, Livingston 20, Ferguson 2/45) beat New Zealand (159/6, Glenn Phillips 62, Kane Williamson 40, Sam Curran 2/26, Woakes 2/33) by 20 runs. won
England won the toss and elected to bat. Openers Jos Buttler (captain, wicket-keeper) (73 off 47 balls), Alex Hales (52 off 40 balls) and Liam Livingstone (20 off 14 balls) played brilliantly to take the team’s score to 179 for six in 20 overs.
Conway (3 runs), Neesham (6 runs) and Mitchell (3 runs) were the important players of the New Zealand team who came next. Glenn Phillips (62 runs), Williamson (40 runs), Allen (16 runs) and Sandner (16 runs) were the only ones to play. With 26 runs needed in the final over, England’s Sam Curran bowled brilliantly. With this win, New Zealand, England and Australia are the top three teams in Group 1 with five points respectively.
New Zealand-Ireland teams, Australia-Afghanistan teams and England-Sri Lanka teams will clash on November 5th in this group.
The general expectation is that New Zealand, Australia and England will win these matches. The runrate will then decide which two teams will advance to the semi-finals.