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I was worried it could be the pitch but it wasn’t the lower-order batsman Pat Cummins, Starc always somehow add some useful runs, this has been the case since the Ashes. Even Zampa belted a couple of boundaries.
Starc’s going strong with his record of 1 wicket in each WC match! I couldn’t find how far back it goes, but seems like a strong record to own, he’s also the fastest 50 wicket-getter in the World Cups!
Rabada’s dismissal left all in AWE! I bet even Inglis was in awe, it seemed like it with that expression!
Markram with another stellar 50! At one point he hits 3 consecutive 4s off Zampa. The third one was a brilliant cricketing shot, he lofts an incoming googly to the covers, I actually remember seeing Rizwan and Mendis play something similar in the last match. What an absolute treat to watch, where is this version of Markram when he’s leading the Sunrisers! Mark bring it this IPL man!
7 catch drops, and that too by Australia. The list goes:
Josh Inglis – early on, thick outside edge from zampa’s leggie and Inglis dropped it, so much for replacing the keeper
Sean Abbott – threw it back at the boundary into the field, only to be a bad throw!
Pat Cummins – puts down Markram, could’ve been a good C&B
Mitchell Starc – runs to catch Miller’s top edge drops as his elbow hits the ground, this was just about bad luck, by this time I was thinking fate/DRS nothing is working for the Aussies
Marcus Stoinis – dropped a sitter! This was despicable! Only the drops probably added 50-60 runs, their bowling was fine but just the catches!
The other dismissal is something that I never experienced before, Stoinis visibly nicks it, and there was a sound. He starts walking but after looking at the replay he sees that the bottom hand isn’t touching the bat, so he stops and then the third umpire makes a decision that it’s out because the bottom hand was in contact with the top hand, which did not seem to be the case from the front-on view. sigh! This was first of it’s kind for me and I’ve been watching cricket for a while. It is what it is, it just came to Australia at the wrong time!
Smith’s dismissal looked completely sus; even the umpire on the ground seemed absolutely surprised. It looked like it was going way past the leg stump, I was at least expecting it to be an “umpire’s call”, well what can you say, whenever it’s SA vs AUS you expect something to go crazy! At least this time the broadcaster isn’t Supersport, you remember the whole country vs 11?
This is the 5th highest total in the WC against Australia by any team!
QDK is at the peak of his form; he has two continuous centuries, I watched him talk after the match, and it seemed like a natural effortless knock. Quentin is going to quit after this World Cup, he’s a player who will leave us at the top of his game (hopefully) and leave us begging for more!
Just the SA team, they’re playing like a team: I have been watching South Africa since I was a kid, I may have even watched my first match as a child in coloured kits with Kepler Wessels and Andrew Hudson opening their batting! And Allan Donald, the white lightning opening the bowling attack! I had a poster of their team chilling in the dressing room cut out from Sportstar back then! We all loved them and still do but from 92 to 2015, South Africa was almost always considered on paper the team to beat, always packed with top players, but never completely matched the hype and gained a ‘choker’ tag. This world Cup, it did not feature in top 4 teams of many, but might end up surprising all by not only being in the top 4, but even ending up as a winner or a runner up.” Indeed, they are happily under the radar, and seem all the happier for the lack of expectation going in… right now, they are high-fliers.
Today they just played an absolutely perfect game, we were all missing Nortje but the team just looked absolutely perfect and that’s scary! At the back of my head I’m preparing for a surprise clutch and I think this world of cricket can’t take any more heartbreaks.
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