ICC World Cup 2015, Australia vs England: Quick Flicks of the match
Chris Woakes just dropped the game
Aaron Finch, opening the innings for Australia along with David Warner, offered an easy catch in the very first over to Chris Woakes off the bowling of James Anderson. Finch flicked a fuller delivery on leg stump to the man at square leg when on naught, only to see Woakes mistiming his jump and dropping the catch. The opener went on to score 135 runs in 128 balls, taking the game away from England’s grasp and handing Australia an 111-run victory.
Anderson was unlucky to have another catch dropped off his bowling when Moeen Ali dropped Warner at mid-off a few overs later. Thankfully, Moeen’s drop didn’t cost England too dearly as he was in the pavilion soon after.
Steven Finn ends with a hat-trick
Finn became the first England bowler and the 7th bowler in the World Cup to take a hat-trick after he dismissed Brad Haddin, Glenn Maxwell and Mitchell Johnson off successive deliveries in the 50th and final over.
Chaminda Vaas had taken 3 wickets off the first three deliveries in a World Cup game against Bangladesh way back in 2003.
Broad’s love affair with Australian fans continues
Stuart Broad continues to have a love-hate relationship with the Australian media and fans which dates back to July 2013, after he had refused to walk in the Ashes Test at Trent Bridge, despite edging a delivery to first slip.
Recently, he questioned regular Australian captain Michael Clarke’s hurried return from injury to play the World Cup, and thus, it wasn’t a surprise that he was vociferously booed by the crowd of 84,000 every time he ran in to bowl today.
Dropped catches and some stunners
After dropped catches from Woakes and Ali, it was the turn of George Bailey to drop one of James Taylor. However, the Australian fielders, to their credit, took some spectacular catches as well. Mitchell Starc’s running catch to dismiss Ian Bell and Haddin’s sensational one-handed catch to send Eoin Morgan back to the pavilion deserve special mention.
The best of the night? Undoubtedly, Steven Smith’s catch to dismiss Jos Buttler off Mitchel Marsh’s bowling. Smith, standing at short cover, acrobatically dived to his left to nab an upper drive from the wicketkeeper-batsman, which then started the downfall of the English batting unit.
Swinging it the “Mitchell” way
How often do we see three players of the same name playing a World Cup game and how often do we see them taking all the wickets in an innings? The three Mitchells - Starc, Johnson and Marsh - picked up all 9 wickets that fell to the bowlers, with Marsh picking up a 5-for. “What’s in a name?” they had asked.
Heartbreak for Taylor
The last two deliveries of the match were nothing short of drama. With Taylor batting on 98 and with one wicket left in the innings, Anderson played one in the air which fell just short of the fielder at point.
What followed was unlucky to say the least. Taylor was given out LBW by umpire Aleem Dar and immediately reviewed it. He was vindicated in his review as he was declared not out, but Anderson was found short of his crease on a run-out attempt by Maxwell, and after much deliberation on whether or not it should be a dead ball, Anderson was declared out with Taylor unfortunately stranded on 98. However, the ICC has now clarified that the umpires were at fault, robbing the diminutive England batsman of what would’ve been a deserved century.